Wedbush Securities Inc. Acquires 2,185 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 36.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,118 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 605,619 shares of the company's stock worth $79,360,000 after acquiring an additional 13,256 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 399.5% during the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 13,765 shares of the company's stock worth $1,804,000 after purchasing an additional 11,009 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth approximately $19,673,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company's stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $26,163,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on KMB shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.38.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.7 %

KMB traded up $2.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $139.77. 1,721,534 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,151,052. The stock has a market cap of $46.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The business's 50 day moving average is $138.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.72. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $123.84 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.