SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Takes $343,000 Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $343,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 target price (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $141.79 on Thursday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.52. The company has a market cap of $47.03 billion, a PE ratio of 18.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $123.02 and a 12-month high of $149.31.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. On average, 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 66.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.