The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,924 shares of the company’s stock after selling 665 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $1,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Clorox by 11.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 802,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,483,000 after purchasing an additional 85,529 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Clorox by 7.7% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after buying an additional 980 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Clorox by 13.4% in the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 11,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,584,000 after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 15.8% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 55,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,611,000 after purchasing an additional 7,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CLX. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Clorox from $167.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $139.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Clorox presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.54.

Clorox Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CLX opened at $160.31 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $156.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37. The firm has a market cap of $19.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.42.

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 return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is presently 170.04%.

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.