Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 419,349 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,761 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Kimberly-Clark worth $59,640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. First Pacific Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the first quarter valued at about $37,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.50.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total transaction of $234,547.56. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,098 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $405,032.52. This trade represents a 36.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $132.53 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The company has a market cap of $43.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. 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 company's 50-day moving average price is $134.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.75.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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