Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Position Boosted by Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 97.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,441 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 47,164 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $12,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew 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 in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 728,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,492,000 after buying an additional 3,273 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew 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 worth $60,615,000 after buying an additional 12,768 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 32,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,266,000 after buying an additional 2,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 279,044 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,776,000 after buying an additional 38,529 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total value of $95,978.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $518,410.90. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,872 shares of company stock worth $2,208,684 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $141.01 on Thursday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $137.16 and a 200-day moving average of $134.89. The company has a market capitalization of $46.79 billion, a PE ratio of 18.68, 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 (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.