Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,818 shares of the company’s stock after selling 447 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $582,592,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,768,367,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,824 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth approximately $127,436,000. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during the 4th quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,506,000 after purchasing an additional 576,610 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.85.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $140.73 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $123.84 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $136.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

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.