Nuveen LLC Makes New $42.30 Million Investment in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 287,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,300,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Clorox during the first quarter worth $247,000. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Clorox during the first quarter worth $399,000. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. acquired a new position in Clorox during the first quarter worth $400,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in Clorox by 33.5% during the first quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 28,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,198,000 after buying an additional 7,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 19.0% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 25,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,085 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CLX. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $137.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (down previously from $140.00) on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Clorox and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $167.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $129.00 to $119.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Clorox presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.36.

Clorox Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Clorox stock opened at $122.17 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $117.35 and a 1 year high of $171.37. The firm has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a PE ratio of 18.74, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.15, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.64.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.63. Clorox had a net margin of 11.40% and a return on equity of 377.86%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. Clorox’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is a boost from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. Clorox’s payout ratio is 76.07%.

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.