State of Michigan Retirement System Lowers Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

State of Michigan Retirement System reduced its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 90,516 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $11,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,632,000 after buying an additional 9,711 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $210,000. Silver Coast Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $210,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,642,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Two research 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

NYSE KMB opened at $141.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $131.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.02 and a fifty-two week high of $149.31.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 3.55%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.