Centaurus Financial Inc. Acquires 266 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,759 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 3.0% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 171,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,350,000 after acquiring an additional 5,034 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 7.4% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 213,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,321,000 after buying an additional 14,617 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,030,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,431,443,000 after purchasing an additional 358,926 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 11,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,646,000 after buying an additional 4,791 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB opened at $139.14 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.19. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12 month low of $117.67 and a 12 month high of $149.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. Kimberly-Clark’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on KMB shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.93.

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.