Prudential Financial Inc. Has $10.84 Million Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,073 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $10,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,481,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Clorox by 27.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 776,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,456,000 after buying an additional 168,111 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in Clorox in the third quarter valued at approximately $363,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox in the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 49,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,059,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLX has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Clorox has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.50.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE:CLX opened at $146.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.94, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $171.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $151.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.09.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 316.87%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is 133.33%.

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.