Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Takes Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on KMB shares. 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 research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $139.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $46.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $133.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.51. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $123.02 and a 1-year high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. 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. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 66.75%.

About Kimberly-Clark

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.