Kennon Green & Company LLC Lowers Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Kennon Green & Company LLC lessened its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,413 shares of the company’s stock after selling 148 shares during the quarter. Kimberly-Clark makes up about 2.4% of Kennon Green & Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Kennon Green & Company LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KMB. State Street Corp lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,824 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,506,000 after acquiring an additional 576,610 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,284,000 after acquiring an additional 551,158 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,625,000 after acquiring an additional 464,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,278,000 after acquiring an additional 386,510 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $140.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.48. The company has a market capitalization of $46.53 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $118.62 and a twelve month high of $149.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. On average, equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 64.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Citigroup cut 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 note on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

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.