California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 75,443 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

California State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 400,830 shares of the company's stock after selling 75,443 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.12% of Kimberly-Clark worth $52,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $582,592,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the fourth 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. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 valued at $740,868,000 after buying an additional 1,015,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $127,436,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $143.90. 3,382,846 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,179,610. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $137.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is 68.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $145.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,098 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $405,032.52. This represents 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 accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

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.