B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Cuts Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,797 shares of the company’s stock after selling 572 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 204.0% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after purchasing an additional 13,806 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,253,000. Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 506.8% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 12,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 10,820 shares during the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,081,000. Finally, Rockline Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,661,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.31.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $141.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $133.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.57. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $116.32 and a 1-year high of $141.80. The company has a market cap of $47.70 billion, a PE ratio of 26.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total value of $524,431.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,396,116.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,050.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total value of $524,431.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,395 shares of company stock valued at $3,332,776. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.