Swedbank AB Has $22.10 Million Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Swedbank AB lessened its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 168,619 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,523 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.05% of Kimberly-Clark worth $22,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of KMB. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,409,000 after acquiring an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $130.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $131.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $117.67 and a 12 month high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. Analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.