Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Sells 10,417 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lessened its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 67.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,060 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,417 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. CX Institutional increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.2% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 5,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.9% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 7,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,253,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $137.21 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $138.82 and its 200 day moving average is $139.11. The stock has a market cap of $45.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.40. 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 (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

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.