Victory Capital Management Inc. Buys 12,961 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 771,881 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,961 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $93,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KMB. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 90.9% during the fourth quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 210 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 175.0% during the third quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:KMB opened at $136.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.33. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $116.32 and a fifty-two week high of $146.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.83 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.38.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $5.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.08 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 250.28%. The business’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 89.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total value of $61,398.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,324.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.24, for a total transaction of $61,398.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,324.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.83, for a total transaction of $342,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,053 shares in the company, valued at $1,101,891.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,562 shares of company stock valued at $2,808,345. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.