Aspire Private Capital LLC Increases Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Aspire Private Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,246 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KMB. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 53.3% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 3,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 12,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Exeter Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 7,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $908,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.9% in the third quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 80,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,668,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Ziegler Capital Management LLC increased its position in Kimberly-Clark by 13.4% during the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 15,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,824,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Kimberly-Clark news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $120.98 per share, with a total value of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,050.46. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Mark T. Smucker bought 827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $120.98 per share, with a total value of $100,050.46. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,050.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.00, for a total value of $450,120.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,084,709. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on KMB shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of Kimberly-Clark from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $133.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Kimberly-Clark in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.85.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock traded up $2.06 on Monday, reaching $128.89. 2,705,180 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,159,606. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $124.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.36. The company has a market cap of $43.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 1-year low of $116.32 and a 1-year high of $147.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.94, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. The company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 6.84 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.85%.

Kimberly-Clark Company 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.