Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 52.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 183,178 shares of the company’s stock after selling 198,346 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of Kimberly-Clark worth $24,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KMB. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on KMB. TD Cowen cut Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $139.53 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $46.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $135.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.06. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $123.84 and a 12-month high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly 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 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 66.75%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.64% 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.