Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Lowers Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 64.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,743 shares of the company’s stock after selling 60,071 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $4,659,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KMB. Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after acquiring an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the second quarter valued at about $14,751,000. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,956,000 after purchasing an additional 6,392 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,583,000 after buying an additional 11,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,608,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $138.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 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.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its 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. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is 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.