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

Financial Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,139 shares of the company’s stock after selling 622 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 512.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 542,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,315,000 after buying an additional 453,624 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in Clorox by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,032,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,816,000 after acquiring an additional 308,234 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Clorox by 302.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 353,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,390,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,332,947,000 after purchasing an additional 245,525 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,935,000. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLX has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Clorox presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.50.

Clorox Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE CLX opened at $146.18 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $151.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.09. The company has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be issued a $1.22 dividend. 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 presently 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.