Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV Boosts Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,935 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Barclays PLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 74.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,765 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 10,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 202.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,076,000 after buying an additional 9,763 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE:KMB opened at $141.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $46.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The company’s 50 day moving average is $137.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.07.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,372 shares of company stock worth $1,858,684. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered 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 note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.