Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 29.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 905,051 shares of the company’s stock after selling 376,577 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.27% of Kimberly-Clark worth $118,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on KMB shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This trade represents a 15.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,872 shares of company stock valued at $2,208,684 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.1 %

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $133.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $124.10 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $138.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.77.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.66%.

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.