Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Reduces Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,171 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,580 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $3,581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,659,000 after acquiring an additional 636,882 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% in the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,278,000 after acquiring an additional 386,510 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,431,443,000 after acquiring an additional 358,926 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $131.34 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $117.67 and a 1-year high of $149.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $137.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.30. The company has a market capitalization of $43.80 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

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.