The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 395,445 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,585 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $64,224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Clorox by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Clorox in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 300.0% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 184 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on CLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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 cut Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.62.

Clorox Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Clorox stock opened at $147.43 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The firm has a market cap of $18.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $171.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $154.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.32.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.33%.

About Clorox

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.