Sunbelt Securities Inc. Lowers Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. decreased its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 33.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,073 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,523 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,706 shares of the company's stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,056 shares of the company's stock worth $577,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 2,042 shares of the company's stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Park National Corp OH lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 3,031 shares of the company's stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoge Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 1,907 shares of the company's stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total value of $95,978.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.50.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:KMB traded up $1.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $127.89. 1,935,073 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,198,567. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $134.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.73. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark's 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.