Teza Capital Management LLC Acquires New Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 7,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $932,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Barclays PLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,267,000 after buying an additional 273,813 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,807,000 after buying an additional 6,016 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 10,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,433,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 9,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,255,000 after buying an additional 2,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth approximately $227,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.08.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,997 shares in the company, valued at $518,410.90. The trade was a 15.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $357,420. This trade represents a 49.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,872 shares of company stock worth $2,208,684 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of KMB opened at $139.33 on Monday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $137.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.75. The stock has a market cap of $46.23 billion, a PE ratio of 18.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.01 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.66%.

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.