Whittier Trust Co. Reduces Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Whittier Trust Co. decreased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,891 shares of the company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KMB. State Street Corp grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after buying an additional 1,083,824 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,675,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,092,388,000 after purchasing an additional 206,671 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,040,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,459,000 after purchasing an additional 30,312 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,625,000 after purchasing an additional 464,615 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $138.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $134.84 and a 200-day moving average of $136.34. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $123.84 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. Equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

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.