Platform Technology Partners Purchases 154 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Platform Technology Partners lifted its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,534 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the quarter. Platform Technology Partners’ holdings in Clorox were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Clorox by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,685,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,041,661,000 after buying an additional 185,012 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Clorox by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,463,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,497,427,000 after buying an additional 195,348 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Clorox by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,725,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,349,000 after buying an additional 100,920 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Clorox by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,583,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,878,000 after buying an additional 124,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Clorox by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,931,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,515,000 after purchasing an additional 21,058 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.98% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE:CLX traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $145.40. 704,771 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,196,967. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.19, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.28. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $124.58 and a 52-week high of $178.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.38, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $155.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $157.93.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 2.02% and a return on equity of 163.56%. Clorox’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. This is a boost from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 8th. Clorox’s payout ratio is presently 403.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clorox

In other Clorox news, CFO Kevin B. Jacobsen sold 3,346 shares of Clorox stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.82, for a total transaction of $538,103.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,734,883.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CLX. StockNews.com raised shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 8th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Clorox from $155.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Atlantic Securities raised shares of Clorox from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Clorox from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Clorox has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.38.

Clorox Profile

The Clorox Company manufactures and markets consumer and professional products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The Health and Wellness segment offers cleaning products, such as laundry additives and home care products primarily under the Clorox, Clorox2, Scentiva, Pine-Sol, Liquid-Plumr, Tilex, and Formula 409 brands; professional cleaning and disinfecting products under the CloroxPro and Clorox Healthcare brands; professional food service products under the Hidden Valley brand; and vitamins, minerals and supplement products under the RenewLife, Natural Vitality, NeoCell, and Rainbow Light brands in the United States.