ProShare Advisors LLC Buys 115,751 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,429,418 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 115,751 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $187,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 3,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $405,032.52. The trade was a 36.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were 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 directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This trade represents a 58.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,872 shares of company stock worth $2,208,684. Insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KMB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of KMB stock opened at $133.65 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.70. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.66%.

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.