Quantbot Technologies LP Decreases Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB

Key Points

• Quantbot Technologies LP significantly reduced its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. by 95.4%, ending the quarter with a total of $130,000 worth of shares.
• Other institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Charles Schwab Investment Management, have increased their holdings in Kimberly-Clark, highlighting a strong interest from larger investors towards the company.
• Kimberly-Clark reported a quarterly dividend of $1.26 per share, with a yield of 3.9%, and its earnings per share surpassed analysts' estimates, although revenue was slightly below projections.

Quantbot Technologies LP cut its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 95.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 917 shares of the company's stock after selling 19,135 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KMB. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10,975.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,902,050 shares of the company's stock worth $270,510,000 after buying an additional 1,884,877 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2,982.8% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,384,318 shares of the company's stock worth $196,878,000 after buying an additional 1,339,413 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter worth approximately $181,762,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter worth approximately $106,458,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 270.2% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 984,695 shares of the company's stock worth $140,043,000 after acquiring an additional 718,720 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on KMB shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $139.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $125.00 to $138.00 in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, July 18th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $144.00 price objective for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $142.70.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of KMB traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $129.14. The stock had a trading volume of 1,785,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,309,663. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.12. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The firm has a market cap of $42.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.33. 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 (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. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%.The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. Kimberly-Clark's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is 69.42%.

About Kimberly-Clark

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.