Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 105,214 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,768,354 shares of the company’s stock after selling 105,214 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $797,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $437,420,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,926,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,114,000 after buying an additional 370,094 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 277.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 472,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,466,000 after buying an additional 347,778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,040,000 after buying an additional 330,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total transaction of $5,331,392.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,038,976.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 19,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,819,207.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KMB shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays reduced 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 research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Argus raised shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.8 %

KMB stock opened at $143.52 on Monday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $116.32 and a 1-year high of $149.30. 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 company has a market capitalization of $48.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.53.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.71%.

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.