Bessemer Group Inc. Acquires 2,403 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,080 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,403 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $4,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,387,709,000 after buying an additional 529,223 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company's stock worth $1,113,444,000 after acquiring an additional 797,953 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company's stock worth $740,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $582,592,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on KMB. TD Cowen cut Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $145.38.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock traded up $3.12 on Thursday, reaching $142.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 721,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,138,555. The company has a market capitalization of $47.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $139.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $124.10 and a 1 year high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is currently 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.