Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. reduced its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,105 shares of the company’s stock after selling 145 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20,377.6% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,428,000 after acquiring an additional 33,623 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.7 %

KMB opened at $138.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $118.62 and a 12 month high of $149.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $130.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.46.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 64.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.