Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 62,497 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 7,175.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 63,368 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 62,497 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $10,323,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 4,490,421 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted 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 worth $199,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380,724 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its position in Clorox by 150.6% during 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 period. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of Clorox by 13,547.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 440,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,063,000 after purchasing an additional 436,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 424.9% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CLX shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. 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 note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.00.

Clorox Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CLX opened at $166.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.00, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $149.68.

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. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is presently 170.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 13,471 shares in the company, valued at $2,229,719.92. This represents a 11.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.