Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Sold by Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 48.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,016 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,866 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 19.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,681,671 shares of the company's stock worth $239,267,000 after acquiring an additional 273,813 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 77.4% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,786 shares of the company's stock worth $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 6,016 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 10,933 shares of the company's stock worth $1,433,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 9,574 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 2,002 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $227,000. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on KMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $158.00 to $156.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,088,520. The trade was a 58.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total value of $95,978.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,372 shares of company stock valued at $1,858,684 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.3%

KMB traded up $1.81 on Friday, hitting $141.56. 2,582,859 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,181,611. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $124.10 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The company has a market cap of $46.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $137.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $134.98.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. On average, equities 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 Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is 68.66%.

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.