Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Buys 234 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,592 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,043,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KMB. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of KMB opened at $141.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.85 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $131.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.49. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $122.99 and a 12 month high of $149.31.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 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.