Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC Cuts Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 95.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,874 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157,140 shares during the period. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,815,000 after acquiring an additional 641,187 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,884,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,345,000 after acquiring an additional 212,739 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,051,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $489,650,000 after acquiring an additional 155,066 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $437,420,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 74.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,442,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,155 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $111.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.31.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB traded down $0.65 on Friday, hitting $139.47. 3,481,144 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,980,526. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $134.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.95. The firm has a market cap of $46.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.38. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $116.32 and a one year high of $142.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total transaction of $524,431.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total value of $524,431.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 6,390 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.59, for a total value of $866,420.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,562,467.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,395 shares of company stock worth $3,332,776 in the last quarter. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

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.