Old North State Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Old North State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,736 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 68,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,762,000 after purchasing an additional 4,447 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,489,000 after buying an additional 1,838 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Exeter Financial LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 8,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $129.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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 note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.