CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Increases Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 389,118 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 41,541 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.12% of Kimberly-Clark worth $50,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KMB shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $146.31.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $142.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm's 50-day moving average is $139.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.75. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The company has a market capitalization of $47.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. Equities analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $1.26 dividend. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

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.

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