Erste Asset Management GmbH Buys 9,200 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB

Key Points

• Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. by 23.4%, acquiring an additional 9,200 shares, bringing its total holdings to 48,600 shares valued at approximately $6.84 million.
• Kimberly-Clark's stock has a current market cap of $44.21 billion and reported earnings of $1.92 per share for the most recent quarter, surpassing analyst expectations.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.26 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 3.8%.

Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 23.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,600 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,200 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $6,839,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Pacific Financial bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 176.1% in the 1st quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 196 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KMB. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $139.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $142.70.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $133.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $44.21 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.33. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.85 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is 69.42%.

About Kimberly-Clark

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.

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