J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Increases Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 96.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,736 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,238 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company's stock worth $4,605,079,000 after acquiring an additional 4,603,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% in the 4th 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 period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company's stock worth $740,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $582,592,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark 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 sale, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KMB. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. TD Cowen cut Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on 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 five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $146.31.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $137.87 on Wednesday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.69. 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 (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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 in the previous year, the business posted $2.01 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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