Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Stake Boosted by Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP

Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 662,620 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 386,510 shares during the quarter. Kimberly-Clark makes up approximately 6.3% of Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP owned 0.20% of Kimberly-Clark worth $94,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 23.1% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 25,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,694,000 after buying an additional 4,873 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 63.6% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 338,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,124,000 after acquiring an additional 131,456 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 47,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 2.5% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 141,612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,164,000 after purchasing an additional 3,514 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 11.4% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 12,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 0.7 %

Kimberly-Clark stock traded down $1.04 on Tuesday, hitting $138.52. 147,658 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,100,035. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The firm has a market cap of $46.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.33. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1 year low of $117.67 and a 1 year high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

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.