New England Research & Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

New England Research & Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 31.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,149 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,190 shares during the period. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,387,709,000 after buying an additional 529,223 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,444,000 after buying an additional 797,953 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,529,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $986,616,000 after buying an additional 417,118 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,868,000 after buying an additional 1,015,141 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $130.84 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $136.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.27. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $43.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced 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. 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 period last year, the business earned $2.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price target 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. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.73.

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.