Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Acquires 132 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,174 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $5,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KMB. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after buying an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,409,000 after purchasing an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $129.13 on Thursday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The company has a market cap of $43.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.95.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 EPS 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 $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.64%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

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.