The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Shares Sold by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP cut its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 98.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 272 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,188 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Clorox were worth $44,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC raised its position in Clorox by 150.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,597,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,035,000 after buying an additional 960,094 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Clorox by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,492,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,372,000 after acquiring an additional 31,510 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 961,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,200,000 after acquiring an additional 120,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Clorox by 11.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 802,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,483,000 after acquiring an additional 85,529 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CLX. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup upped their target price on Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.00.

Clorox Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Clorox stock opened at $166.97 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a twelve month low of $127.60 and a twelve month high of $171.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $163.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $150.49. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a PE ratio of 58.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.42.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. Clorox’s payout ratio is presently 170.04%.

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.