Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 372,520 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,945 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.11% of Kimberly-Clark worth $53,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after purchasing an additional 21,339 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at about $14,751,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,956,000 after purchasing an additional 6,392 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,583,000 after buying an additional 11,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,608,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on KMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.4 %

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.