New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 23,179 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 281,224 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,179 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of Kimberly-Clark worth $36,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KMB. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $919,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,293 shares of the company's stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 28,407 shares of the company's stock worth $3,722,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 11,215 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 630.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,639 shares of the company's stock worth $3,360,000 after buying an additional 22,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the 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 owns 5,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reduced 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, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price 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, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB traded up $2.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $137.85. 1,845,174 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,166,302. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $118.62 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The company has a market cap of $45.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $129.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 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, equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is an increase from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.64%.

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.