Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Acquired by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,839 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $4,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,409,000 after acquiring an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,956,000 after acquiring an additional 6,392 shares during the period. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,882 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the second quarter worth $36,608,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on KMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $133.11 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.42. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The company has a market capitalization of $44.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by 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.