National Bank of Canada FI Sells 102,521 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

National Bank of Canada FI trimmed its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 63.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,695 shares of the company’s stock after selling 102,521 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Clorox were worth $9,533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Clorox by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 5,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $812,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 50.7% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 4,164 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Clorox by 3.2% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $817,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Clorox by 8.8% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 60,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,867,000 after buying an additional 4,889 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on CLX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.00.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of CLX opened at $143.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $150.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.40. The stock has a market cap of $17.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 133.33%.

Clorox 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.