California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Holdings in Kimberly-Clark Corporation $KMB

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) by 31.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 570,262 shares of the company’s stock after selling 266,461 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $55,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMB. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 26,997.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,368,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $743,399,000 after buying an additional 7,341,215 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the fourth quarter valued at $521,184,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 50.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,839,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,628,206 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,830,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,615,382,000 after acquiring an additional 997,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TOMS Capital Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Kimberly-Clark during the fourth quarter worth about $92,314,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on KMB shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Bank of America cut their price target on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $110.00 to $109.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.79.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

Shares of KMB opened at $108.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.38, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.77. Kimberly-Clark Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $92.42 and a fifty-two week high of $137.46. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.79. The company has a market capitalization of $36.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.26.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.09 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 152.79% and a net margin of 12.80%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Corporation will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $1.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $5.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is presently 80.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Katy Chen sold 1,596 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.34, for a total transaction of $152,162.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,362 shares in the company, valued at $797,233.08. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, VP Andrew Scribner sold 4,095 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.00, for a total value of $401,310.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,096 shares of company stock worth $689,687. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

Kimberly-Clark Corporation is a U.S.-based multinational manufacturer of personal care and consumer tissue products. The company develops, produces and markets a range of consumer brands and professional products, including facial and bathroom tissues, disposable diapers and training pants, feminine care, incontinence products and workplace hygiene solutions. Known for consumer-facing names such as Kleenex, Huggies, Kotex, Cottonelle and Scott, as well as professional offerings under Kimberly-Clark Professional and KleenGuard, the company supplies goods to retail, healthcare and institutional customers.

Founded in 1872 in Neenah, Wisconsin, Kimberly-Clark has expanded from its 19th-century paper-making roots into a global household and workplace products company.