The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Shares Purchased by First Community Trust NA

First Community Trust NA boosted its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,429 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the quarter. Clorox comprises about 1.1% of First Community Trust NA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. First Community Trust NA’s holdings in Clorox were worth $1,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in Clorox by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,332,947,000 after purchasing an additional 245,525 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,713,000 after buying an additional 33,970 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Clorox by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,334,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,370,000 after buying an additional 37,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.2% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,492,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,372,000 after buying an additional 31,510 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CLX. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Clorox from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $157.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Clorox presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.46.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of CLX stock opened at $158.95 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08. The company has a market cap of $19.67 billion, a PE ratio of 55.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.16. The Clorox Company has a 52 week low of $127.60 and a 52 week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is presently 170.03%.

Clorox Company 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.