State Street Corp Increases Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,304,396 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 1,083,824 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 5.79% of Kimberly-Clark worth $2,768,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Stevens Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.4% in the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 8,635 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,229,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $440,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 32,381 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,607,000 after buying an additional 6,513 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 215.2% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 394 shares of the company's stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 138,201 shares of the company's stock worth $19,663,000 after purchasing an additional 6,571 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $149.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 2.5 %

KMB traded down $3.46 during trading on Friday, hitting $134.69. 2,207,240 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,109,441. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $138.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.33. The firm has a market cap of $44.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.74 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is currently 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.