Townsquare Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 9.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,484 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $6,756,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KMB. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the second quarter valued at $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter worth about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on KMB shares. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock traded up $0.17 on Friday, reaching $139.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,213,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,107,212. The stock has a market cap of $46.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.21.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Insider Activity

In other Kimberly-Clark 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% 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.