AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Has $24.26 Million Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 644.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 185,163 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 160,279 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned about 0.06% of Kimberly-Clark worth $24,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $919,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 28,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,722,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 11,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 630.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 25,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,360,000 after buying an additional 22,131 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $132.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $129.88 and its 200-day moving average is $136.57. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $117.93 and a 1-year high of $149.30. 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 stock has a market cap of $44.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is a positive change 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.64%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

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 value of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on KMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark 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.