Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Buys 2,025 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,436 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,025 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $6,462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $851,000 after acquiring an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Certuity LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 1,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 630.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,360,000 after buying an additional 22,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 11,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $405,032.52. The trade was a 36.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.73.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $130.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $136.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.27. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $124.10 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.66%.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.