ICW Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

ICW Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,194 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 827 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,605,079,000 after buying an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after buying an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $127,436,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,506,000 after buying an additional 576,610 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,284,000 after buying an additional 551,158 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on KMB shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays dropped 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE KMB opened at $138.31 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.87 billion, a PE ratio of 18.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $123.84 and a one year high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. On average, equities analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

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.