First Trust Advisors LP Buys 1,328,341 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 163.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,142,749 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,328,341 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.64% of Kimberly-Clark worth $280,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $582,592,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in 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 period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $127,436,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company's stock worth $1,113,444,000 after purchasing an additional 797,953 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMB has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $146.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value 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. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE KMB traded down $4.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $133.61. 4,582,284 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,148,010. The company has a market cap of $44.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $139.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.69.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. Research analysts predict 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 given a $1.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.