Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Trims Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 874,349 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,269 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.26% of Kimberly-Clark worth $106,242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $869,090,000 after buying an additional 177,712 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.7% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,465,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $866,180,000 after purchasing an additional 108,050 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 14.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,996,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $603,815,000 after purchasing an additional 641,187 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,884,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,345,000 after purchasing an additional 212,739 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 123,302.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,430,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $601,394,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,568 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

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

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $125.28 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $123.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.23. The company has a market cap of $42.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $116.32 and a 12 month high of $147.87.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 8.63% and a return on equity of 260.47%. The company had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.