Citigroup Inc. Sells 14,855 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Citigroup Inc. decreased its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 402,742 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,855 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.12% of Kimberly-Clark worth $55,603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 123,302.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,430,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $601,394,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,568 shares during the last quarter. Cowa LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the 1st quarter worth $54,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $441,478,000. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $136,832,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,819,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,181,000 after buying an additional 613,295 shares during the period. 74.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KMB. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $118.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 12th. TheStreet downgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Bank of America cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $145.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.93.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

NYSE:KMB opened at $121.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.81. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 12-month low of $116.32 and a 12-month high of $147.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $121.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $1.18 per share. This represents a $4.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 90.77%.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

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

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.