Advisors Preferred LLC Sells 669 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Advisors Preferred LLC trimmed its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 16.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,283 shares of the company’s stock after selling 669 shares during the quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,431,443,000 after acquiring an additional 358,926 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,675,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,092,388,000 after purchasing an additional 206,671 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,625,000 after purchasing an additional 464,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,712,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $385,900,000 after acquiring an additional 20,953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $130.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $117.67 and a 12 month high of $149.30. The stock has a market cap of $43.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $130.22 and a 200 day moving average of $136.75.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 64.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.62% 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.