The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Shares Sold by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,650 shares of the company’s stock after selling 165 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $1,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CLX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,341,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,010,622,000 after buying an additional 44,344 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 2.1% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Clorox by 3.8% in the first 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Clorox by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,415,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,517,000 after purchasing an additional 357,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Clorox by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,184,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,356,000 after purchasing an additional 47,879 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of CLX opened at $141.98 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $114.68 and a 52-week high of $178.21. The company has a market capitalization of $17.62 billion, a PE ratio of 225.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $1.08. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 319.41% and a net margin of 1.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s payout ratio is 761.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on CLX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $165.00 target price (down previously from $170.00) on shares of Clorox in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $162.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded Clorox from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $120.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.13.

Clorox Company 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.