Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lowered its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,105 shares of the company’s stock after selling 145 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JLB & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. JLB & Associates Inc. now owns 14,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,959,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 76,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,014,000 after buying an additional 3,398 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 4,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $269,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 153,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,115,000 after buying an additional 16,515 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on KMB shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $138.85 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $130.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.46. The stock has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $118.62 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. 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 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.64%.

Kimberly-Clark 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.