Choate Investment Advisors Has $702,000 Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Choate Investment Advisors raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 233.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,360 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,754 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors' holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.5% during the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 5,337 shares of the company's stock worth $759,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.7% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 2,981 shares of the company's stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 1,637 shares of the company's stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the company's stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,321 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,221,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on KMB shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the 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 directly owns 7,720 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of KMB traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $139.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,662,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,148,575. The business has a fifty day moving average of $134.31 and a 200 day moving average of $136.37. The company has a market cap of $46.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $123.02 and a 1 year high of $150.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend 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.