Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,243 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,959 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,243 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 12,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20,377.6% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 33,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,428,000 after acquiring an additional 33,623 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on KMB. Barclays lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen downgraded 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, January 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $139.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $134.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.38. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $123.02 and a 52 week high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.12 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS 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%. Analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders 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 3.62%. This is a boost 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 (DPR) is presently 66.75%.

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.