Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Boosts Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 44.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 244,129 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 74,750 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Clorox were worth $39,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in Clorox by 26.3% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 59,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,736,000 after purchasing an additional 12,428 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 119.6% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $546,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Clorox in the 4th quarter worth about $1,566,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Clorox by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,713,000 after acquiring an additional 33,970 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.58.

Clorox Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of CLX opened at $142.91 on Thursday. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37. The company has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.31.

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 net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 316.87%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

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.