Stifel Financial Corp Acquires 6,549 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 852,982 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,549 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.26% of Kimberly-Clark worth $111,775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KMB. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,807,000 after buying an additional 6,016 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company's stock worth $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company's stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the period. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20,377.6% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,788 shares of the company's stock worth $4,428,000 after purchasing an additional 33,623 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $131.58. The company had a trading volume of 2,626,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,132,123. 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 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The firm has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.61.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is a positive change 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 was Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $145.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

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.