South Plains Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 665 Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 110,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,504,000 after purchasing an additional 13,820 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,023,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $359,000. Finally, Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $2,544,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $129.88 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $43.10 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $124.10 and a 12 month high of $150.45.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.66%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total value of $234,547.56. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,098 shares in the company, valued at $405,032.52. This trade represents a 36.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,132 shares of company stock valued at $2,112,706 in the last 90 days. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on KMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.