First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 163.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,142,749 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,328,341 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.64% of Kimberly-Clark worth $280,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. 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. TD Cowen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $146.31.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $142.68 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 66.75%.

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.