Johnson Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 363.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,068 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,110 shares during the quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company's stock worth $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter worth about $212,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.4% during the third quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 12,870 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at approximately $280,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 50.4% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,920 shares of the company's stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 1,648 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $131.58 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $139.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is 68.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. 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. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.08.

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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