Stevens Capital Management LP Purchases 119 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Stevens Capital Management LP raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,635 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 21,339 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at $14,751,000. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,956,000 after purchasing an additional 6,392 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% during the 2nd 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 period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,608,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of KMB opened at $136.74 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $138.28 and its 200 day moving average is $139.33. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.