Ethic Inc. Sells 33,109 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Ethic Inc. decreased its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 59.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,306 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,109 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on KMB. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $133.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $44.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s fifty day moving average is $137.87 and its 200 day moving average is $134.71. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total value of $95,978.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $518,410.90. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,872 shares of company stock valued at $2,208,684. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

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.