Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 10,890 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 23.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,505 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,890 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $8,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,659,000 after purchasing an additional 636,882 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after buying an additional 503,839 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,431,443,000 after acquiring an additional 358,926 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,501 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,040,000 after acquiring an additional 330,327 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB opened at $139.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.19. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $117.67 and a one year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

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.