Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lowered its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,126 shares of the company’s stock after selling 187 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of KMB. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.9 %

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $46.28 billion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. 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 50-day moving average price of $135.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.06. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $123.84 and a 52 week high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 66.75%.

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.