Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 4,426 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,444 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,426 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $4,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $138.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $117.67 and a 1-year high of $149.30. The company has a 50-day moving average of $138.72 and a 200 day moving average of $139.15. The firm has a market cap of $46.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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 $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

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.