Monarch Capital Management Inc. Sells 593 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Monarch Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,626 shares of the company’s stock after selling 593 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $612,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,443,000 after buying an additional 358,926 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,675,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,092,388,000 after buying an additional 206,671 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,625,000 after acquiring an additional 464,615 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $385,900,000 after acquiring an additional 20,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $151.00 to $132.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.71.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE KMB opened at $127.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $117.67 and a 52 week high of $149.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $132.41 and a 200-day moving average of $137.98.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.31 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.