ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Raises Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,281 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $695,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 245,525 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 4,490,421 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Clorox by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,713,000 after buying an additional 33,970 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Clorox by 1.7% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,334,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,370,000 after buying an additional 37,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in Clorox by 150.6% during the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,597,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,035,000 after buying an additional 960,094 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX opened at $157.59 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $164.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.56. The Clorox Company has a 12-month low of $127.60 and a 12-month high of $171.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08. The firm has a market cap of $19.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.91, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. Clorox’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 170.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.46.

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.