Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 151,257 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,720 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of Clorox worth $24,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Insight Folios Inc boosted its stake in Clorox by 3.0% in the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC boosted its stake in Clorox by 0.4% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 19,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Clorox by 2.0% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 research note on Friday, August 2nd. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.00.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX stock opened at $164.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.00. The Clorox Company has a 52 week low of $127.60 and a 52 week high of $169.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $162.28 and its 200 day moving average is $146.95. The firm has a market cap of $20.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.41.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 170.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clorox

In other Clorox news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,719.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.