Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Natixis

Natixis lessened its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 84.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,093 shares of the company's stock after selling 86,674 shares during the period. Natixis' holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company's stock worth $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter worth about $212,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 12,870 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $280,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 50.4% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,920 shares of the company's stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,648 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at $357,420. The trade was a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of KMB stock traded down $0.76 during trading on Friday, reaching $131.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,626,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,128,554. The company has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $139.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.54.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.66%.

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.