Great Lakes Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 44.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,506 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,283 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 23.7% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.3% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 11,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 40.2% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 54,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,686,000 after purchasing an additional 15,482 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 68.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 43,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,219,000 after purchasing an additional 17,749 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KMB shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

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 transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $139.79 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.02 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.52, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. 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 $133.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

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.