Vident Advisory LLC Has $2.26 Million Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. $KMB

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. by 54.8%, owning 15,896 shares valued at approximately $2.26 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Kimberly-Clark from "underweight" to "neutral", raising the target price from $125 to $138, while Piper Sandler initiated coverage with an "overweight" rating and a $144 target price.
• Kimberly-Clark announced a quarterly dividend of $1.26 per share, which represents an annualized amount of $5.04 and a yield of 3.9%.

Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 54.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,896 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,629 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 5,166 shares of the company's stock worth $741,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $3,735,000. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $46,000. State of Wyoming increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,879 shares of the company's stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $1,703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on KMB. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Friday, July 18th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $144.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $125.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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 note on Thursday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $142.70.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Friday, hitting $129.89. 2,186,999 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,307,223. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

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

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.