Park Avenue Securities LLC Boosts Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 77.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,786 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,016 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Pensionfund Sabic grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company's stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company's stock valued at $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,409,000 after acquiring an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company's stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20,377.6% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,788 shares of the company's stock worth $4,428,000 after purchasing an additional 33,623 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on KMB shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $151.00 to $132.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.71.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE KMB traded up $0.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $127.33. The company had a trading volume of 2,056,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,808,543. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $117.67 and a 12-month high of $149.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The business's 50-day moving average is $132.41 and its 200 day moving average is $137.98. The stock has a market cap of $42.46 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. Kimberly-Clark's revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is 63.29%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark 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.