Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Buys 90 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,321 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,304,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,824 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 988,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,506,000 after acquiring an additional 576,610 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1,427.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 589,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,284,000 after acquiring an additional 551,158 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,740,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,625,000 after acquiring an additional 464,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 140.0% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 662,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,278,000 after acquiring an additional 386,510 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.9 %

KMB opened at $140.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $130.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.48. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a twelve month low of $118.62 and a twelve month high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on KMB. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

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.