Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 4,124 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC trimmed its position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,840 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,124 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $3,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KMB. Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 347,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,409,000 after acquiring an additional 21,339 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark during the second quarter valued at $14,751,000. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Kimberly-Clark by 4.0% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 166,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,956,000 after purchasing an additional 6,392 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,608,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on KMB shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kimberly-Clark has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total value of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $138.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $46.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $138.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.13. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its earnings results 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. 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 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.