Andrew Drexler Sells 2,500 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Stock

Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at $357,420. This trade represents a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.1 %

KMB traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $140.09. 1,047,357 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,136,088. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $120.49 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The company has a market cap of $46.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.41. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.46.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced 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 return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm 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 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 64.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of 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, UBS Group boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Institutional Trading of Kimberly-Clark

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after acquiring an additional 4,603,787 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at $582,592,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,786,000 after buying an additional 1,328,341 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after buying an additional 1,083,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,868,000 after buying an additional 1,015,141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

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.