Franklin Resources Inc. Has $60.04 Million Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 20.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 418,270 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 70,633 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.13% of Kimberly-Clark worth $60,038,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,659,000 after acquiring an additional 636,882 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,278,000 after acquiring an additional 386,510 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $1,431,443,000 after purchasing an additional 358,926 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on KMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark 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 company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $131.36 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

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.