ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 211 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 6.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,912 shares of the company’s stock after selling 211 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth about $582,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,510,000 after buying an additional 1,884,877 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,786,000 after buying an additional 1,328,341 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter worth about $181,762,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.50.

Insider Activity

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 3,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $405,032.52. The trade was a 36.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.6%

KMB opened at $132.36 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $134.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.70. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The company has a market cap of $43.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 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.