Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $7.80 Million Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 59,537 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,032 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $7,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 30,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,008,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 900.2% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 4,177 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 7,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,401,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,439,000 after buying an additional 122,312 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price objective (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $144.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $47.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $123.02 and a one year high of $150.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $132.96 and a 200-day moving average of $136.48.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.75%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.