Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Sells 298 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 12.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,136 shares of the company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,279,000 after acquiring an additional 944,920 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,559,000 after purchasing an additional 342,790 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after buying an additional 354,501 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after buying an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,040,000 after acquiring an additional 330,327 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $132.13 on Wednesday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $117.67 and a 52-week high of $149.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $140.71 and a 200 day moving average of $139.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.40.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KMB. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus upgraded Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

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.