First Trust Advisors LP Sells 621,631 Shares of Kimberly-Clark Corporation $KMB

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its position in Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB) by 27.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,609,332 shares of the company’s stock after selling 621,631 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.49% of Kimberly-Clark worth $207,475,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Kimberly-Clark by 989.5% in the second quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Winnow Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kimberly-Clark in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 176.1% during the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kimberly-Clark by 105.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. 76.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $144.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Kimberly-Clark from $118.00 to $113.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $162.00 target price on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, BNP Paribas reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Kimberly-Clark in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $126.00.

Kimberly-Clark Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:KMB opened at $104.94 on Friday. Kimberly-Clark Corporation has a twelve month low of $99.22 and a twelve month high of $150.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $112.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.98.

Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. Kimberly-Clark had a return on equity of 183.11% and a net margin of 10.89%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Kimberly-Clark Corporation will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kimberly-Clark Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $5.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Kimberly-Clark’s payout ratio is currently 85.28%.

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.