Bank of New York Mellon Corp Increases Stock Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 961,387 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 120,716 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.77% of Clorox worth $131,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CLX. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $144,844,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth $128,382,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth $128,245,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Clorox in the first quarter worth $135,630,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Clorox by 26.5% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 882,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,099,000 after purchasing an additional 184,847 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CLX. TD Cowen began coverage on Clorox in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $122.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Clorox from $162.00 to $153.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Clorox from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Argus raised Clorox to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Clorox from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.94.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE:CLX opened at $155.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.90. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $114.68 and a 52-week high of $158.89. The firm has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.37, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s fifty day moving average is $138.69 and its 200 day moving average is $142.30.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 382.58% and a net margin of 3.95%. Research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 6.4 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is currently 252.85%.

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.