Natixis Sells 86,674 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Natixis lowered its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB - Free Report) by 84.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,093 shares of the company's stock after selling 86,674 shares during the quarter. Natixis' holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 94,406 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,371,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Ossiam raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Ossiam now owns 12,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,638,000 after purchasing an additional 4,698 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 204.2% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 220,466 shares of the company's stock worth $28,890,000 after purchasing an additional 147,983 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 22,040 shares of the company's stock worth $2,888,000 after buying an additional 6,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,285,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $299,446,000 after buying an additional 116,554 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $165.00 to $162.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $145.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 10,838 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,720 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,520. This represents a 58.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.64% of the company's stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE KMB traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $131.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 245,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,121,174. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $124.10 and a 52 week 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 stock has a market cap of $43.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.46.

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

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark's payout ratio is 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.