Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. Invests $252,000 in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth approximately $437,420,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after buying an additional 944,920 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,926,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,114,000 after buying an additional 370,094 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 277.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 472,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,466,000 after purchasing an additional 347,778 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 69.2% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 779,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,793,000 after purchasing an additional 318,680 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on KMB. Barclays cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $136.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $167.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Argus upgraded Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.67.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB traded up $1.62 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $140.10. The stock had a trading volume of 2,401,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,480,943. The firm has a market cap of $47.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.75, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $116.32 and a fifty-two week high of $145.62. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $138.33 and a 200-day moving average of $130.73.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.10 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. The business’s revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total transaction of $5,331,392.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total value of $524,431.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total value of $5,331,392.58. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,935 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,819,207.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,312 shares of company stock valued at $6,106,519 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.62% 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.