Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 780 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,366 shares of the company’s stock after selling 780 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter worth $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $131.44 on Tuesday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $117.67 and a 12 month high of $149.30. The stock has a market cap of $43.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $130.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.73.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. On average, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 64.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.