Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 199,225 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,894 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned about 0.06% of Kimberly-Clark worth $26,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on KMB shares. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $131.58 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $124.10 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $139.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.54.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

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.