721 Shares in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Bought by Hopwood Financial Services Inc.

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 85.7% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 14,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,110,000 after purchasing an additional 6,847 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the third quarter valued at $103,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 21.5% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 7.6% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 1.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 818,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,388,000 after purchasing an additional 11,937 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 2.9 %

KMB stock opened at $139.88 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.36. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $123.02 and a 12 month high of $150.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $133.14 and its 200 day moving average is $136.51. 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 (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kimberly-Clark news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares in the company, valued at $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus 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.