Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Acquired by Levin Capital Strategies L.P.

Key Points

• Levin Capital Strategies L.P. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. by 23.5% during the first quarter, owning 21,705 shares valued at approximately $3.08 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Brighton Jones LLC and Wellington Management Group LLP, also raised their positions in Kimberly-Clark, indicating strong institutional interest.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.26 per share, yielding approximately 3.8%, with the ex-dividend date set for September 5th.

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 23.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,705 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 4,137 shares during the quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $3,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,529,108 shares of the company's stock worth $986,616,000 after purchasing an additional 417,118 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company's stock worth $740,868,000 after buying an additional 1,015,141 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,974,239 shares of the company's stock worth $520,784,000 after purchasing an additional 445,552 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,430,616 shares of the company's stock valued at $449,549,000 after purchasing an additional 670,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,022,131 shares of the company's stock valued at $396,020,000 after buying an additional 309,873 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler started coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, July 18th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $144.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Kimberly-Clark from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $142.70.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.1%

KMB traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $136.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,473,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,338,815. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $131.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The firm has a market cap of $45.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.33.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.