Empower Advisory Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Empower Advisory Group LLC cut its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 8.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,332 shares of the company’s stock after selling 393 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after buying an additional 944,920 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,559,000 after acquiring an additional 342,790 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,501 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,040,000 after purchasing an additional 330,327 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus raised shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $131.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $140.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.18. The firm has a market cap of $43.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $117.67 and a 12 month high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

About Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products in the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The company’s Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swimpants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, reusable underwear, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Thinx, Poise, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, and other brand names.