Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,264 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,191,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $869,090,000 after acquiring an additional 177,712 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,465,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $866,180,000 after acquiring an additional 108,050 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $603,815,000 after acquiring an additional 641,187 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,884,941 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,345,000 after purchasing an additional 212,739 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 123,302.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,430,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $601,394,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on KMB. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Evercore ISI upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $119.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $450,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,709. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $450,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,709. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark T. Smucker purchased 827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 827 shares in the company, valued at $100,050.46. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $125.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $116.32 and a 1-year high of $147.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $123.84 and its 200 day moving average is $122.20.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 260.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.22 dividend. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 93.85%.

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.