Empirical Finance LLC Boosts Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 2.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,690 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after purchasing an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $14,751,000. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,956,000 after acquiring an additional 6,392 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 107.8% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 12,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 6,293 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on KMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $161.00 target price for the company. Argus upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of KMB opened at $134.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The firm has a market cap of $44.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $139.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.12. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $117.67 and a 12-month high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

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.