Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Stock Holdings Reduced by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 93,860 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,350 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $13,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,443,000 after acquiring an additional 358,926 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 354,501 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $188,040,000 after purchasing an additional 330,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 2.0% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,207,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,971,000 after buying an additional 23,788 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE KMB opened at $139.20 on Thursday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $117.67 and a twelve month high of $149.30. The stock has a market cap of $46.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.