Legal & General Group Plc Sells 667,235 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 21.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,416,946 shares of the company's stock after selling 667,235 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.72% of Kimberly-Clark worth $316,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $145.38.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock traded up $2.61 on Monday, hitting $142.37. The stock had a trading volume of 361,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,142,087. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $138.39 and a 200 day moving average of $135.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. 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 66.75%.

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.