Trexquant Investment LP Cuts Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Trexquant Investment LP trimmed its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 85.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,051 shares of the company's stock after selling 36,778 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at $908,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 110.3% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 328 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company's stock valued at $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.1% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,517 shares of the company's stock valued at $638,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.6% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 153,971 shares of the company's stock worth $21,907,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $158.00 price objective (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $145.38.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of KMB traded up $3.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $142.80. 522,384 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,137,808. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $139.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The firm has a market cap of $47.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is 66.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company 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.