BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $97.41 Million Stock Position in Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark Co. (NYSE:KMB) by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 684,623 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 326,061 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Kimberly-Clark were worth $97,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KMB. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 13,720.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 641,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,659,000 after buying an additional 636,882 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,545,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,539,000 after purchasing an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,060,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,443,000 after purchasing an additional 358,926 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Kimberly-Clark by 22.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,934,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,383,000 after purchasing an additional 354,501 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 32.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,360,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,040,000 after buying an additional 330,327 shares during the period. 76.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KMB. StockNews.com lowered Kimberly-Clark from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Barclays increased their target price on Kimberly-Clark from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kimberly-Clark has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.93.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Performance

Shares of Kimberly-Clark stock opened at $139.73 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $138.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.77, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $4.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 198.59% and a net margin of 12.97%. Kimberly-Clark’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Kimberly-Clark Co. will post 7.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. Kimberly-Clark’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrew Drexler sold 3,000 shares of Kimberly-Clark stock in a transaction 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 owns 5,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,417.53. The trade was a 37.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Kimberly-Clark Company Profile

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.