Westpac Banking Corp Cuts Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 53.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,868 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,609 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $3,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 1st quarter valued at about $96,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 190,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,483,000 after purchasing an additional 34,646 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.8% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 292,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,878 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 4,102 shares of the company’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 20,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after buying an additional 4,503 shares during the period. 74.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of KMB traded up $1.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $122.70. The company had a trading volume of 552,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,706,717. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.81, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $41.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $121.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.34. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $116.32 and a 52 week high of $147.87.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.16 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 292.92% and a net margin of 8.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, insider Sandra R. Karrmann sold 5,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.80, for a total value of $664,835.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,228 shares in the company, valued at $808,394.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Sandra R. Karrmann sold 5,122 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.80, for a total value of $664,835.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $808,394.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Zackery A. Hicks sold 3,020 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.43, for a total value of $360,678.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $122.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $126.00 to $111.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.93.

Kimberly-Clark Profile

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products worldwide. 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.