Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB Shares Acquired by Royal Bank of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. by 0.9% in the first quarter, now owning approximately 1.04% of the company's shares.
• Several institutional investors have significantly boosted their holdings in Kimberly-Clark, with GAMMA Investing LLC increasing its position by an astonishing 10,975.8%.
• Kimberly-Clark announced a quarterly dividend of $1.26 per share, representing a 3.9% yield, to be paid to shareholders on October 2nd.

Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,460,069 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 29,453 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 1.04% of Kimberly-Clark worth $492,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 176.1% in the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 196 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Elequin Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on KMB shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, July 18th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $144.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lowered 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Kimberly-Clark from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $142.70.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB stock traded up $1.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $129.17. 1,993,331 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,307,606. The company has a market cap of $42.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.32. The stock's 50 day moving average is $130.53 and its 200 day moving average is $134.98. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is presently 69.42%.

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.