Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by New England Research & Management Inc.

New England Research & Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 31.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,149 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,190 shares during the quarter. New England Research & Management Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,603,787 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $582,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company's stock valued at $270,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,877 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 163.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,142,749 shares of the company's stock worth $280,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trinity Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter worth $181,762,000. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at $518,410.90. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KMB. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.73.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE KMB traded down $1.74 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $128.93. 2,883,023 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,177,551. The company has a market capitalization of $42.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.38. 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 52-week low of $124.10 and a 52-week high of $150.45. The firm's 50-day moving average is $136.52 and its 200-day moving average is $135.11.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.66%.

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.