Godsey & Gibb Inc. Acquires 3,960 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 149,126 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,960 shares during the period. Kimberly-Clark comprises about 2.1% of Godsey & Gibb Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Godsey & Gibb Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $21,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $582,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,884,877 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company's stock worth $740,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,141 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE:KMB traded down $1.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $133.55. 2,575,720 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,182,904. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The company has a market cap of $44.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G 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. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $137.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.46.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.66%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,098 shares in the company, valued at $405,032.52. The trade was a 36.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

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.