Pitcairn Co. Reduces Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Pitcairn Co. cut its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,205 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,659,000 after acquiring an additional 636,882 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after purchasing an additional 503,839 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,431,443,000 after purchasing an additional 358,926 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 354,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 330,327 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on KMB shares. Barclays upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $139.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The firm has a market cap of $46.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $138.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.19.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Kimberly-Clark Profile

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.