Credit Agricole S A Cuts Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A has reduced its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. by 10.1%, selling 10,676 shares and ending the quarter with 95,475 shares worth approximately $13.58 million.
• Kimberly-Clark reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.92 for the latest quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.67, although revenue fell short of expectations at $4.16 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.26, resulting in an annualized dividend of $5.04 and a dividend yield of 3.8%, with the next payment scheduled for October 2nd.

Credit Agricole S A lessened its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 10.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,475 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,676 shares during the quarter. Credit Agricole S A's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $13,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,494 shares of the company's stock worth $851,000 after purchasing an additional 2,765 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 147,486 shares of the company's stock worth $19,327,000 after purchasing an additional 37,709 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,559 shares of the company's stock worth $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 14,736 shares of the company's stock worth $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 7,238 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,335,185 shares of the company's stock worth $174,799,000 after purchasing an additional 135,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $139.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, July 18th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $144.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $142.70.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE KMB traded down $2.7050 during trading on Monday, hitting $130.7850. 932,080 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,311,322. The firm has a market cap of $43.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $130.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.23. 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 released 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. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. Kimberly-Clark's revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

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

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.