Blair William & Co. IL Buys 56,519 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 43.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 185,646 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,519 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.06% of Kimberly-Clark worth $25,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 919,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,749,000 after buying an additional 107,736 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 103.5% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 2,968 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 11,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. Finally, WBI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $1,427,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total transaction of $5,331,392.58. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,377 shares in the company, valued at $1,038,976.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total value of $5,331,392.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,935 shares in the company, valued at $2,819,207.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $141.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $47.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $142.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.86. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $116.32 and a 1 year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. Kimberly-Clark’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on KMB. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $136.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 19th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Argus upgraded Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.67.

About Kimberly-Clark

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.