Farmers Trust Co. Buys 539 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Farmers Trust Co. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,616 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pensionfund Sabic raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,267,000 after purchasing an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after purchasing an additional 21,339 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,625,000 after buying an additional 464,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 9.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 51,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,294,000 after buying an additional 4,229 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 value of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.7 %

Kimberly-Clark stock traded down $0.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $126.42. The company had a trading volume of 951,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,626,402. The firm has a market cap of $42.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.41. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $117.67 and a 12-month high of $149.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $133.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.68.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMB has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.57.

Kimberly-Clark 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.