Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) has selected Oct. 31 as the date it plans to spinout its healthcare division, Halyard Health, as a separately traded company.

Shares of the new company, which will be headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga., will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol HYH. The stocks’s first full day of trading will be on Nov. 3.

Under the tax-free transaction, Kimberly-Clark shareholders will receive one share of Halyard Health stock for every eight shares of Kimberly-Clark stock at market close on Oct. 23. Before completion of the spinout, Halyard Health is expected to make a one-time cash payment to Kimberly-Clark, which will allow the company to increase its 2014 stock buy-back target to $2 billion from its previously stated goal of $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion, according to Kimberly-Clark.

"The spin-off will let Halyard Health pursue its own value-creation opportunities as a focused healthcare company," said Kimberly-Clark Chief Executive Officer Thomas Falk, in a statement. "Looking ahead, we continue to be optimistic about our prospects to deliver strong returns to shareholders.”

Halyard Health had 2013 sales of $1.7 billion, with an operating profit of $225 million. The division employs around 16,500 worldwide.

Halyard Health traces its roots back to the late 1970s, when Kimberly-Clark launched a division that marketed non-woven fabric garments to hospitals. Over the years, Kimberly-Clark augmented the business with the acquisitions of Tecnol Medical Products and Safeskin, later branching into the medical products arena with the purchases of Ballard Medical Products, Baylis Medical’s pain management device business and I-Flow.