Avanza Fonder AB Acquires Shares of 36,079 Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 36,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,728,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter worth about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $151.00 to $132.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $143.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark 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 sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE KMB traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $127.33. 2,056,622 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,808,543. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $42.46 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.41. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $132.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.98. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $117.67 and a 52 week high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.