The Clorox Company $CLX Stock: Townsend & Associates Inc Increases Position

Townsend & Associates Inc boosted its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 41.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,142 shares during the period. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Clorox were worth $1,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the 2nd quarter worth $958,640,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Clorox during the second quarter worth about $179,780,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Clorox during the second quarter worth about $123,154,000. Equity Investment Corp purchased a new position in Clorox during the second quarter worth about $111,800,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Clorox during the second quarter worth about $68,473,000. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CLX has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Clorox in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Wall Street Zen cut Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Clorox from $97.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $93.57.

Clorox Price Performance

Clorox stock opened at $86.38 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.66. The company has a market capitalization of $10.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.59. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $79.12 and a 1 year high of $128.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.80, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.02. Clorox had a net margin of 8.74% and a return on equity of 522.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Clorox has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.700-6.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 5.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 103.73%.

About Clorox

The Clorox Company, founded in 1913 and headquartered in Oakland, California, is a consumer and professional products company. It began with household bleach and has expanded into a portfolio of brands serving cleaning, household, personal care, food, and professional markets.

Its brands include Clorox disinfecting and cleaning products, Pine-Sol cleaners, Liquid-Plumr drain care, Kingsford charcoal, Fresh Step and Scoop Away cat litter, Hidden Valley dressings and dips, Brita water filtration products, and Burt’s Bees personal care items.