AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Trims Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc reduced its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 214,571 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,208 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc owned 0.06% of Kimberly-Clark worth $28,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on KMB shares. Barclays cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.71.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $128.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $131.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $137.60. The company has a market capitalization of $42.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.65, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

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.