Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Reduces Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its stake in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 25.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,003 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,666 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Kimberly-Clark in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 808.0% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the third quarter valued at $36,000. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMB has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $153.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Price Performance

KMB stock opened at $139.20 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $138.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77. The stock has a market cap of $46.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.40. Kimberly-Clark Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.67 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30.

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 198.59%. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is 63.29%.

Insider Transactions at Kimberly-Clark

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.01, for a total transaction of $417,030.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. This trade represents a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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.