Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Bought by Pinebridge Investments L.P.

Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 264,382 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,159 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. owned approximately 0.08% of Kimberly-Clark worth $34,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KMB. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,706 shares of the company's stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,559 shares of the company's stock worth $1,908,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 1,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the company's stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,321 shares of the company's stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock traded down $0.76 during trading hours 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 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 one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $139.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.54. The stock has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. The firm 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 period last year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.26 dividend. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KMB. TD Cowen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

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

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.