USS Investment Management Ltd Cuts Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

USS Investment Management Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 92,019 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,206 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $12,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,267,000 after buying an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 728,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,492,000 after purchasing an additional 3,273 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 9,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 2,002 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 464,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,615,000 after purchasing an additional 12,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 32,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,641 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $141.60 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $46.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.14 and a 200 day moving average of $134.85.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on KMB shares. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total value of $234,547.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $405,032.52. The trade was a 36.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,872 shares of company stock valued at $2,208,684. Company insiders own 0.64% 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.