This Metric Says You Are Smart to Sell Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB)

Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB) was in 20 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of December. kmb investors should pay attention to a decrease in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds in recent months. There were 27 hedge funds in our database with kmb positions at the end of the previous quarter.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are plenty of metrics investors can use to watch publicly traded companies. A duo of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best investment managers can outpace the market by a significant amount (see just how much).

Just as important, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are lots of motivations for an upper level exec to downsize shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at the latest action regarding Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB).

What have hedge funds been doing with Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB)?

At year’s end, a total of 20 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of -26% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital had the biggest position in Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB), worth close to $191 million, comprising 2.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, with a $104 million position; the fund has 0.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, David Harding’s Winton Capital Management and Phill Gross and Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management.

Since Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB) has experienced bearish sentiment from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there lies a certain “tier” of hedge funds who sold off their entire stakes heading into 2013. Intriguingly, Anand Parekh’s Alyeska Investment Group sold off the biggest stake of the “upper crust” of funds we key on, valued at an estimated $32 million in stock., and Thomas A. Giovine of Giovine Capital was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $3 million worth. These transactions are interesting, as aggregate hedge fund interest was cut by 7 funds heading into 2013.

How have insiders been trading Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the last six-month time frame, Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 5 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the returns demonstrated by our strategies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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