HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 5,272 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Corporation $KMB

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,794 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,272 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $15,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 11,088.4% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 43,186,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,740,628,000 after acquiring an additional 42,800,922 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,547,915,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 26,997.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,368,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $743,399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,341,215 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter valued at $632,373,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter worth $521,184,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $96.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $115.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded Kimberly-Clark to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $98.70 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $109.34 and a 200 day moving average of $103.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.79, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. Kimberly-Clark Corporation has a 52 week low of $92.42 and a 52 week high of $130.83.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.21). Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 143.92% and a net margin of 11.79%.The company had revenue of $4.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.92 earnings per share. Kimberly-Clark’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Corporation will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $1.28 dividend. This represents a $5.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.07%.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

Kimberly-Clark Corporation is a global manufacturer of personal care and consumer tissue products. The company develops and markets products designed to support personal hygiene, health and well-being in households, healthcare settings and workplaces.

Its portfolio includes well-known brands such as Huggies diapers and training pants, Kleenex facial tissues, Cottonelle toilet paper and wipes, Scott toilet paper and paper towels, Kotex feminine care products, and Depend and Poise incontinence care products.