Vestcor Inc Has $5.81 Million Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Key Points

• Vestcor Inc increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. by 48%, owning 40,830 shares valued at approximately $5.81 million at the end of the last quarter.
• Institutional investors now hold 76.29% of Kimberly-Clark's shares, with notable increases from firms such as Geode Capital Management and Royal Bank of Canada in the last quarter.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on the stock, with recent price targets ranging from $139 to $168, and a consensus rating of "Hold".

Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 48.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,830 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,250 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $5,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Pacific Financial bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 329.6% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, July 18th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $144.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $139.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $134.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $126.00 to $125.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $140.90.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock traded up $6.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $130.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,386,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,321,086. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $124.10 and a 1-year high of $150.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $131.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.56. The company has a market cap of $43.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.30, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.25. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is presently 68.66%.

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.