Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) Stock Position Lifted by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 999,300 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $142,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,893,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,279,000 after purchasing an additional 944,920 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,269,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,559,000 after purchasing an additional 342,790 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,501 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after acquiring an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,040,000 after acquiring an additional 330,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on KMB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $161.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective 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. Two research 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 Up 1.8 %

NYSE KMB opened at $134.08 on Monday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $139.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.15. The company has a market capitalization of $44.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.39, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $117.67 and a 1-year high of $149.30.

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

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 63.29%.

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.