Swiss National Bank Acquires 1,200 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 368,600 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.30% of Clorox worth $60,049,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 2.7% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,481,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Clorox by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 7,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 63,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,341,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $733,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. BNP Paribas raised Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.00.

Clorox Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CLX opened at $168.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.00. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $169.21. The stock has a market cap of $20.81 billion, a PE ratio of 58.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $162.56 and a 200-day moving average of $147.94.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. Clorox’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is 170.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the firm’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 value of $286,846.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. This trade represents a 11.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Company 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.