Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Sells 500 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,462 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $5,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 926.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 210 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total transaction of $524,431.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,324.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Doug Cunningham sold 3,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.82, for a total value of $524,431.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,395 shares of company stock worth $3,332,776. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on KMB. HSBC boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.64.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $137.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $136.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.68. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $116.32 and a 1 year high of $142.20.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 250.28% and a net margin of 9.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.67 EPS. Analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 89.71%.

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.