Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Holdings Lowered by Associated Banc Corp

Associated Banc Corp reduced its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 495,179 shares of the company’s stock after selling 906 shares during the quarter. Kimberly-Clark comprises approximately 2.1% of Associated Banc Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Associated Banc Corp owned about 0.15% of Kimberly-Clark worth $70,454,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,431,443,000 after purchasing an additional 358,926 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after buying an additional 354,501 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,040,000 after acquiring an additional 330,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,207,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,971,000 after acquiring an additional 23,788 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE KMB traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $139.23. The stock had a trading volume of 48,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,095,481. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The company has a market cap of $46.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.