Royal Bank of Canada Grows Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 24.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,430,616 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 670,162 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 1.03% of Kimberly-Clark worth $449,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,706 shares of the company's stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,559 shares of the company's stock worth $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 1,637 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,519 shares of the company's stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,321 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,221,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at $357,420. The trade was a 49.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 740 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.70, for a total transaction of $95,978.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $518,410.90. This trade represents a 15.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,872 shares of company stock worth $2,208,684 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock traded up $0.81 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $141.60. The company had a trading volume of 2,421,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,168,290. The company has a market capitalization of $46.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $150.45. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $137.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.80.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Kimberly-Clark's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $145.08.

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.