Johnson Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 363.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,068 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 7,110 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company's stock worth $4,605,079,000 after buying an additional 4,603,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,589,967 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,387,709,000 after purchasing an additional 529,223 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,113,444,000 after purchasing an additional 797,953 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,529,108 shares of the company's stock valued at $986,616,000 after purchasing an additional 417,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company's stock valued at $740,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,141 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,794 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.74, for a total value of $234,547.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,098 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $405,032.52. This represents a 36.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,528,158.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,132 shares of company stock worth $2,112,706. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on KMB shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $168.00 to $155.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $139.00 to $135.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, March 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.08.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.8 %

KMB traded up $1.08 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $131.63. The stock had a trading volume of 2,928,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,126,522. The stock's 50 day moving average is $139.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.34. 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 company has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a one year low of $124.10 and a one year high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

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.