Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $385,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 123,302.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,430,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $601,394,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,568 shares during the period. Cowa LLC bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the first quarter worth about $54,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter worth about $441,478,000. Imprint Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13,781.2% in the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 2,763,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,361,000 after acquiring an additional 2,743,704 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 4.7% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 29,102,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,017,895,000 after acquiring an additional 1,312,765 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Kimberly-Clark Trading Up 1.6 %

KMB traded up $2.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $129.35. 3,204,058 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,129,380. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.95. The firm has a market cap of $43.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 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 quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This is an increase from Kimberly-Clark’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 7th. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on KMB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $119.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $128.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.27.

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.