Smithfield Trust Co Purchases 4,791 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Smithfield Trust Co grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 70.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,571 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,791 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth approximately $424,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 234.9% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 34,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,410,000 after purchasing an additional 23,906 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 136.9% in the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 5,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 3,011 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on KMB. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus upgraded Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $136.37 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $138.92 and a 200-day moving average of $139.13. The company has a market capitalization of $45.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Kimberly-Clark 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.