Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Raises Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 69.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,399 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Clorox were worth $390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CLX. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Clorox by 46,877.8% during the third 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 period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP increased its stake in Clorox by 512.7% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 542,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,315,000 after purchasing an additional 453,624 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Clorox by 5,442.5% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,622,000 after purchasing an additional 268,966 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Clorox by 302.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 353,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,390,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Clorox by 3.1% during the third 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 during the period. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CLX. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.21.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of CLX opened at $157.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $157.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The company has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.