M&G Plc Sells 477 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

M&G Plc trimmed its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,967 shares of the company’s stock after selling 477 shares during the period. M&G Plc’s holdings in Clorox were worth $973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CLX. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Clorox by 1,715.5% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,461,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,380,724 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 150.6% in the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,597,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,035,000 after purchasing an additional 960,094 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Clorox by 13,547.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 440,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,063,000 after buying an additional 436,891 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 424.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 538,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $877,390,000 after buying an additional 435,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 5,442.5% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,622,000 after buying an additional 268,966 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. Barclays raised their target price on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Clorox stock opened at $165.16 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $169.09. The firm has a market cap of $20.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.55, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $162.14 and a 200 day moving average of $146.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is currently 170.04%.

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.