Highland Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Highland Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 5.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,848 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,912 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $4,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 454,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,738,000 after purchasing an additional 69,794 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,409,000 after buying an additional 21,339 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the 2nd quarter valued at $14,751,000. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,956,000 after acquiring an additional 6,392 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 84.6% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 25,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,882 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of KMB opened at $135.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $116.63 and a 1-year high of $149.30. The company has a market capitalization of $45.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.65.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Gonzalo Uribe sold 1,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.84, for a total transaction of $250,695.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,377 shares in the company, valued at $1,038,976.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark 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.