Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,466 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 680 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $851,000 after buying an additional 2,765 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,883,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 45,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,098 shares in the company, valued at $405,032.52. This trade represents a 36.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of KMB opened at $133.04 on Wednesday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $124.10 and a 52 week high of $150.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $136.85 and a 200-day moving average of $135.39.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 68.66%.

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.