Xponance Inc. Sells 317 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Xponance Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,889 shares of the company’s stock after selling 317 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $4,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 91.9% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 54,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,840,000 after acquiring an additional 26,058 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Clorox in the 4th quarter valued at about $940,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Clorox by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,815,000 after purchasing an additional 5,938 shares during the period. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Clorox by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,793,000 after buying an additional 2,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Clorox by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,324,000 after buying an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.62.

Clorox Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CLX opened at $145.46 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $153.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.87. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd 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 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.33%.

Clorox 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.