Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Raises Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB

Key Points

• Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. by 8.5%, acquiring an additional 3,499 shares, bringing their total holdings to 44,844 shares valued at approximately $5.78 million.
• Various institutional investors have adjusted their holdings in Kimberly-Clark, with Vanguard Group Inc. and other firms raising their stakes during the first quarter.
• Recent analyst ratings show a consensus average price target for Kimberly-Clark at $137.00, with varying opinions including three Buy ratings, five Holds, and one Sell rating.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 8.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,844 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 3,499 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $5,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,235,465 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,011,188,000 after acquiring an additional 92,920 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,264,013 shares of the company's stock worth $1,601,968,000 after purchasing an additional 674,046 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 7.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,095,260 shares of the company's stock worth $1,151,309,000 after buying an additional 566,152 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,827,666 shares of the company's stock worth $828,811,000 after buying an additional 173,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 0.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,460,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $492,091,000 after buying an additional 29,453 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on KMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $127.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Barclays lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $131.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $118.00 to $113.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $149.00 to $145.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $137.00.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $121.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.08, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $126.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $131.29. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $118.18 and a 52 week high of $150.45.

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

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were given a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio is currently 69.42%.

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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