Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 555 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 11.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,220 shares of the company’s stock after selling 555 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Clorox were worth $576,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,277,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,339,150,000 after purchasing an additional 48,632 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $144,844,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $128,382,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $128,245,000. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the first quarter worth about $135,630,000. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Clorox in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $130.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Clorox from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $122.00 target price on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.94.

Clorox Trading Up 1.3 %

CLX stock opened at $153.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.01 billion, a PE ratio of 79.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.39. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $114.68 and a one year high of $158.89. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $138.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th. This is an increase from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 252.85%.

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.