Marino Stram & Associates LLC Sells 368 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Marino Stram & Associates LLC reduced its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,550 shares of the company’s stock after selling 368 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $1,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of KMB. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 4,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at $594,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Kimberly-Clark by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 14,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 9,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 12,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares during the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $125.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $134.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $124.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kimberly-Clark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.43.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KMB traded up $0.19 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $125.59. The stock had a trading volume of 680,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,089,181. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.31 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a 52 week low of $116.32 and a 52 week high of $147.87. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $123.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.20. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 260.47% and a net margin of 8.63%. The company had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. 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. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is 93.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kimberly-Clark news, Director Mark T. Smucker purchased 827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,050.46. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Mark T. Smucker purchased 827 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $120.98 per share, for a total transaction of $100,050.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,050.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tristram Wilkinson sold 3,720 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.