Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Bought by Leavell Investment Management Inc.

Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 143.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,659 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 6,277 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 454,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,738,000 after purchasing an additional 69,794 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,409,000 after buying an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $14,751,000. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,956,000 after buying an additional 6,392 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,583,000 after buying an additional 11,882 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on KMB shares. TD Cowen started coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $161.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.0 %

KMB stock traded up $1.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $133.61. 1,703,481 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,159,661. The business's 50 day moving average price is $140.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $139.26. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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.