Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Purchases 12,478 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 223,581 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,478 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $31,811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KMB. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 9,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the third quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 738.6% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 79,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,280,000 after acquiring an additional 69,809 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter worth $572,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,616,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on KMB. UBS Group lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of KMB stock opened at $139.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $46.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

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.