Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 131,238 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,597 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $18,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after buying an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $582,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $270,510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,877 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company's stock worth $280,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trinity Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $181,762,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on KMB shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $143.50.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 3,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB stock traded up $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $127.89. 1,935,073 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,204,417. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $134.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.74. The firm has a market cap of $42.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $124.10 and a fifty-two week high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is 68.66%.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.