Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,905 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,187 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after purchasing an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,956,000 after buying an additional 6,392 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the second quarter worth approximately $36,608,000. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 9.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 51,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,294,000 after buying an additional 4,229 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB opened at $130.89 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.65 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $137.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.31. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $117.67 and a twelve month high of $149.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion for 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%. Kimberly-Clark’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Insider Activity

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.