Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $470,000 Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 23.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,304 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter worth $27,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter worth $36,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of KMB opened at $134.08 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $139.75 and a 200 day moving average of $139.13. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The firm has a market cap of $44.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on KMB. UBS Group dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus upgraded Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

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.