Summit Financial LLC Boosts Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Summit Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,878 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $630,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Clorox by 27.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 776,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,456,000 after purchasing an additional 168,111 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox during the third quarter worth approximately $363,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Clorox in the third quarter worth $213,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Clorox by 12.6% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $876,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Clorox by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 89,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,594,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $161.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their target price on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.00.

Clorox Price Performance

NYSE CLX opened at $147.77 on Thursday. The Clorox Company has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 40.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $150.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

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.