Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Shares Purchased by Scotia Capital Inc.

Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,362 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $3,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,142,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,605,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,603,787 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $582,592,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,653,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $740,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,141 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $127,436,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,473,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,113,444,000 after acquiring an additional 797,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,553 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $357,420. This represents a 49.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $158.00 price target (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.38.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $139.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $138.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.72. The company has a market cap of $46.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.37. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $123.84 and a 52 week high of $150.45.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 201.43% and a net margin of 12.69%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $1.26 dividend. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 66.75%.

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.