The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Stock Holdings Increased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 2.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 307,649 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,008 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $50,119,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CLX. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Clorox by 1,715.5% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,461,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380,724 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 150.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,597,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,035,000 after buying an additional 960,094 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in shares of Clorox by 13,547.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 440,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,063,000 after buying an additional 436,891 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Clorox by 424.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 538,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $877,390,000 after acquiring an additional 435,971 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Clorox by 5,442.5% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,622,000 after acquiring an additional 268,966 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CLX. Barclays increased their price target on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clorox

In related news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of Clorox stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $286,846.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,471 shares in the company, valued at $2,229,719.92. The trade was a 11.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Clorox Stock Up 1.2 %

CLX opened at $167.69 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $162.39 and its 200-day moving average is $147.34. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $169.09. The company has a market capitalization of $20.76 billion, a PE ratio of 58.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. Clorox’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.