Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Lowers Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC cut its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 26.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,493 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,684 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after buying an additional 1,083,824 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,431,443,000 after purchasing an additional 358,926 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,675,506 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,092,388,000 after purchasing an additional 206,671 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company's stock worth $358,625,000 after purchasing an additional 464,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,712,258 shares of the company's stock valued at $385,900,000 after buying an additional 20,953 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on KMB. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $175.00 to $161.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective 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. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $151.00 to $132.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of KMB stock traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $127.33. 2,056,622 shares of the stock were exchanged, 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 business's fifty day moving average is $132.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.98. 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 $42.46 billion, a P/E 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.29%.

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.