Bank & Trust Co Grows Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Bank & Trust Co increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 14.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,183 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 804 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $851,000 after acquiring an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 12,772.0% during the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 3,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 3,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 4,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE KMB opened at $141.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $47.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $124.10 and a 12 month high of $150.45. 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 50-day moving average of $137.70 and a 200-day moving average of $135.43.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 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.