Nuance Investments LLC Has $58.32 Million Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Nuance Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 59.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 359,112 shares of the company’s stock after selling 516,882 shares during the quarter. Clorox makes up about 2.4% of Nuance Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Nuance Investments LLC owned approximately 0.29% of Clorox worth $58,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Clorox by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,507,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,518,517,000 after buying an additional 124,428 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Clorox by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,332,947,000 after buying an additional 245,525 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Clorox by 1.1% in the third 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. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,334,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,370,000 after acquiring an additional 37,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Clorox by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,032,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,816,000 after purchasing an additional 308,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.62.

Clorox Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of CLX opened at $141.80 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.47 billion, a PE ratio of 38.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $152.23 and its 200-day moving average is $159.43. The Clorox Company has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors 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 3.44%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is 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.