Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,905 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,187 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KMB. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,083,824 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,443,000 after acquiring an additional 358,926 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,675,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,092,388,000 after acquiring an additional 206,671 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,712,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,900,000 after purchasing an additional 20,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after purchasing an additional 354,501 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $130.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $117.67 and a 12 month high of $149.30. The company has a market cap of $43.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $137.27 and its 200-day moving average is $139.31.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

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.