Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KMB. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 74.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $851,000 after buying an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $826,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 4,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $570,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. CX Institutional now owns 6,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $924,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB opened at $119.57 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 stock has a market capitalization of $39.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $128.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.10. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $119.36 and a 1 year high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 69.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on KMB shares. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $131.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $118.00 to $113.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.00.

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.