Arizona State Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 96,189 shares of the company’s stock after selling 353 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $12,605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $142.44 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.25 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $123.02 and a 1-year high of $149.31.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business 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 $1.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend 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.