Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Acquired by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 24.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,430,616 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 670,162 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $449,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KMB. UBS Group upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMB opened at $139.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.75. The stock has a market cap of $46.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 68.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total value of $234,547.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $405,032.52. The trade was a 36.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,872 shares of company stock worth $2,208,684. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.