Federated Hermes Inc. Boosts Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,810 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,916 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Clorox worth $8,981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Clorox by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $212,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 77,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,635,000 after buying an additional 7,995 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 17,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,326,000 after buying an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions 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 owns 13,471 shares in the company, valued at $2,229,719.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CLX shares. Barclays increased their target price on Clorox from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. BNP Paribas raised Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $153.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Clorox has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.50.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX stock opened at $164.69 on Wednesday. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $114.68 and a 52-week high of $169.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.40.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.28. Clorox had a return on equity of 281.12% and a net margin of 3.95%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Equities research analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This is a boost from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 252.85%.

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.