Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Takes Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 287,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,830,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $130.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $136.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.16. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45. 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 company has a market cap of $43.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.01 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $518,410.90. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on KMB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.73.

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.