Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA Sells 282 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA cut its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,395 shares of the company’s stock after selling 282 shares during the period. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $838,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 7,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. My Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 5,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $759,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $756,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 2,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on KMB. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $124.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $132.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB opened at $129.93 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $43.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $131.20 and its 200 day moving average is $137.20. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $117.67 and a 52 week high of $149.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. Research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.