Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 147,683 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Bridgewater Associates LP lowered its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 81.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,384 shares of the company’s stock after selling 147,683 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Clorox were worth $5,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Insight Folios Inc increased its position in shares of Clorox by 3.0% in the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC increased its position in shares of Clorox by 0.4% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 19,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Clorox by 2.0% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Clorox by 2.2% in the second quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of Clorox by 17.2% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:CLX opened at $167.14 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.32. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.24, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.41.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 170.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clorox

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,719.92. The trade was a 11.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.00.

About Clorox

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.