ING Groep NV Trims Stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

ING Groep NV cut its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 69.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,720 shares of the company’s stock after selling 103,651 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Clorox were worth $7,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CLX. First Foundation Advisors bought a new position in shares of Clorox during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of Clorox by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 181,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,711,000 after purchasing an additional 35,477 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,277,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,339,150,000 after buying an additional 48,632 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Clorox by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 882,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,099,000 after buying an additional 184,847 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Clorox by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 8,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.00.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE CLX opened at $167.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $162.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.34. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $169.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 170.04%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $286,846.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. This represents a 11.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.