EP Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,860 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $1,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 565,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,893,000 after purchasing an additional 6,987 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Clorox by 119.6% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $546,000 after buying an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Clorox during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,566,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Clorox by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLX has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price target on Clorox and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $176.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $151.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.23.

Insider Transactions at Clorox

In other Clorox news, Director Pierre R. Breber acquired 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $136.57 per share, for a total transaction of $546,280.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 4,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,280. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Trading Down 2.2 %

Clorox stock opened at $134.79 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 stock has a market cap of $16.60 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $142.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $154.07.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.74 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. On average, research 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 was paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Clorox’s payout ratio is presently 87.61%.

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.