Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Purchases 120 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 138,321 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $18,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 33,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,759,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 9.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 51,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,294,000 after purchasing an additional 4,229 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 7.3% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 7,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.5% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 41,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,898,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at $29,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. 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. StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,420. The trade was a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $138.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $134.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The firm has a market cap of $45.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $123.84 and a 12 month high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS 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%. Research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. 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. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.