Board of the Pension Protection Fund Trims Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund trimmed its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 9.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Kimberly-Clark comprises 1.0% of Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Pacific Financial bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of KMB opened at $126.84 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $124.10 and a 1 year high of $150.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $42.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 68.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,997 shares in the company, valued at $518,410.90. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.