Beaton Management Co. Inc. Sells 258 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Beaton Management Co. Inc. lowered its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,491 shares of the company’s stock after selling 258 shares during the period. Beaton Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Clorox by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,341,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,010,622,000 after buying an additional 44,344 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Clorox by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,415,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,517,000 after buying an additional 357,964 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Clorox by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,184,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,356,000 after buying an additional 47,879 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Clorox by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,738,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,904,000 after buying an additional 30,902 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,633,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,103,000 after purchasing an additional 42,352 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CLX. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Clorox in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “sell” rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $162.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $155.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $146.43.

Clorox Trading Down 0.2 %

Clorox stock traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $134.04. The stock had a trading volume of 788,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,259,232. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $114.68 and a 52-week high of $169.14. The firm has a market cap of $16.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $145.06 and a 200 day moving average of $144.95.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.38. Clorox had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 302.49%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th were given a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 248.71%.

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.