Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Acquired by Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 31.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 36,820 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $5,027,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after buying an additional 944,920 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after acquiring an additional 636,882 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,926,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,114,000 after acquiring an additional 370,094 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 277.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 472,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,466,000 after purchasing an additional 347,778 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KMB. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus raised shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total value of $250,695.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,038,976.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Jeffrey P. Melucci sold 37,699 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.42, for a total value of $5,331,392.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,819,207.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,377 shares in the company, valued at $1,038,976.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $141.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $47.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.39. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $116.32 and a one year high of $149.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.59, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.86.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.10 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 223.55% and a net margin of 11.28%. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.71%.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.