Hamel Associates Inc. Cuts Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Hamel Associates Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 37.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,660 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,220 shares during the period. Hamel Associates Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company's stock worth $1,113,444,000 after buying an additional 797,953 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,529,108 shares of the company's stock worth $986,616,000 after buying an additional 417,118 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 1,015,141 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth $582,592,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,974,239 shares of the company's stock worth $520,784,000 after buying an additional 445,552 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,098 shares in the company, valued at $405,032.52. This trade represents a 36.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $126.00 to $125.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. 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. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $139.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $134.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $140.90.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE KMB traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $127.38. 1,549,446 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,289,590. The stock has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.87, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.52. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 earned $2.01 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.