Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $24.64 Million Stock Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 151,257 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,720 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $24,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. grew its position in shares of Clorox by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 17,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,904,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Clorox by 10.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 135,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,840,000 after purchasing an additional 12,776 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Clorox by 1.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 29,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,873,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 12.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 10,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CLX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.38.

Clorox Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CLX stock opened at $163.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $20.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.94, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.43.

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

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s payout ratio is 170.03%.

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.