Insider Selling: Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) VP Sells 3,000 Shares of Stock

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Andrew Drexler also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 22nd, Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of KMB stock traded up $1.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $138.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,812,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,103,923. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $117.67 and a one year high of $149.30. The company has a market cap of $46.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $138.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.11.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on KMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after buying an additional 944,920 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,659,000 after buying an additional 636,882 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after buying an additional 503,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,278,000 after acquiring an additional 386,510 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.