Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 136,516 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 46.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 427,374 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 136,516 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $56,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sandy Spring Bank lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 6,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $889,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 16,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth approximately $432,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth approximately $109,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 265,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,853,000 after buying an additional 2,544 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 target price (down previously from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays dropped their target price 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.4 %

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.05 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $123.02 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. On average, analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 66.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.