Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 20,872 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 356,837 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,872 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.11% of Kimberly-Clark worth $43,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth about $1,081,000. Sepio Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $215,000. Team Hewins LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $453,000. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 2,831 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXS Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 10,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total transaction of $1,396,116.26. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,050.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Paula Ramos sold 10,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.17, for a total value of $1,396,116.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,050.15. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 520 shares in the company, valued at $70,324.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,395 shares of company stock worth $3,332,776. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on KMB. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $134.85.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.1 %

KMB traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $131.94. 1,413,946 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,789,421. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $116.32 and a 12-month high of $139.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 89.71%.

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.