Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 76,243 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,070 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $10,843,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target 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. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two equities research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.73.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of KMB opened at $128.29 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $42.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.91. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $124.10 and a 1 year 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.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

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.