Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

by · The Markets Daily

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB – Free Report) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,180 shares of the company’s stock after selling 494 shares during the period. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $3,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,279,000 after purchasing an additional 944,920 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 17.8% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,559,000 after buying an additional 342,790 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after buying an additional 354,501 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,720,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,093,000 after buying an additional 48,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,539,000 after buying an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,038,976.68. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on KMB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Argus upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on KMB

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB traded down $1.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $135.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,273,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,121,164. The company has a market cap of $45.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.39. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $116.63 and a 12-month high of $149.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

Kimberly-Clark Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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