Fayez Sarofim & Co Purchases New Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Fayez Sarofim & Co acquired a new position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Clorox by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. HCR Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Clorox by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors now owns 6,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in Clorox by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of Clorox by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 153 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CLX. StockNews.com cut shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Clorox from $176.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Clorox has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.83.

Clorox Trading Down 0.9 %

CLX opened at $138.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $146.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The Clorox Company has a 52 week low of $127.60 and a 52 week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 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.