Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 3,831 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 412,588 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,831 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Kimberly-Clark worth $54,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $598,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $650,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 15,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,911,000 after purchasing an additional 3,228 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $158.00 price target (down from $161.00) on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $118.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.64.

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 0.7 %

KMB stock opened at $138.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.05, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.46. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $118.62 and a 52 week high of $149.30. The company has a market capitalization of $46.05 billion, a PE ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.41.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 201.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. This represents a $5.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.