Phocas Financial Corp. Buys Shares of 450 The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Clorox during the 4th quarter valued at about $714,000. Cambridge Trust Co. lifted its position in Clorox by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 4,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in Clorox by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 94,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,596,000 after purchasing an additional 17,845 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Clorox by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 59,861 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667 shares during the period. Finally, Martin Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Clorox by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC now owns 26,670 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,743,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares during the period. 79.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CLX. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Clorox from $129.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Clorox from $110.00 to $108.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Clorox from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.33.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of CLX stock opened at $153.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $19.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $149.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.53. The Clorox Company has a 52 week low of $120.50 and a 52 week high of $160.59.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 6.16% and a return on equity of 89.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 25th. This represents a $4.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is currently 134.86%.

Clorox Profile

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The Clorox Co engages in the manufacture and marketing of consumer and professional products. It operates through the following business segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The Health and Wellness segment consists of cleaning products, professional products and vitamins, minerals and supplements mainly marketed and sold in the United States.