Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Purchases 7,738 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Corporation $KMB

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) by 59.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,856 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,738 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $2,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 26,997.7% during the fourth 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 bought a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the 4th quarter valued at about $521,184,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 50.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,839,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,628,206 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 459.9% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,695,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,591,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,830,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,615,382,000 after purchasing an additional 997,397 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Kimberly-Clark from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $101.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kimberly-Clark

In related news, VP Andrew Scribner sold 4,095 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.00, for a total transaction of $401,310.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Katy Chen sold 1,596 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.34, for a total transaction of $152,162.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 8,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $797,233.08. This trade represents a 16.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of KMB stock opened at $109.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.38, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $36.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 0.26. Kimberly-Clark Corporation has a 52 week low of $92.42 and a 52 week high of $137.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.46.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last issued its 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. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 152.79% and a net margin of 12.80%.The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Corporation will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

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

Kimberly-Clark 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.