Avestar Capital LLC Buys 95 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 5.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,953 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $278,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on KMB shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.20 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $117.67 and a 12-month high of $149.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.21.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.29%.

Insider Activity

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 $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.