Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Sells 100 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lessened its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,167 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in 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. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,506,000 after buying an additional 576,610 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,284,000 after buying an additional 551,158 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,625,000 after buying an additional 464,615 shares during the period. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,278,000 after acquiring an additional 386,510 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

KMB stock opened at $130.29 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.75. 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 capitalization of $43.45 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.64%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark 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 owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.