Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 155,586 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,085 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $22,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,113,444,000 after purchasing an additional 797,953 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,529,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $986,616,000 after purchasing an additional 417,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,141 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on KMB. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,098 shares in the company, valued at $405,032.52. This trade represents a 36.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE KMB opened at $132.85 on Thursday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $136.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.37. 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 $44.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

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 paid 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 3.79%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

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.