LPL Financial LLC Lowers Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

LPL Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 296,503 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,131 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.24% of Clorox worth $48,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. State Street Corp grew its stake in Clorox by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,332,947,000 after acquiring an additional 245,525 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Clorox by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,713,000 after purchasing an additional 33,970 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Clorox by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,334,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,370,000 after buying an additional 37,967 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,032,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,816,000 after purchasing an additional 308,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Clorox by 27.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 776,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,456,000 after buying an additional 168,111 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CLX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.50.

Clorox Stock Up 1.9 %

CLX opened at $145.70 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 company has a market capitalization of $17.95 billion, a PE ratio of 39.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $151.62 and its 200-day moving average is $159.22.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released 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 return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s payout ratio is 133.33%.

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.