Hartford Investment Management Co. Reduces Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Hartford Investment Management Co. cut its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,641 shares of the company’s stock after selling 148 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $1,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CLX. State Street Corp increased its position in Clorox by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,332,947,000 after acquiring an additional 245,525 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $733,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,713,000 after purchasing an additional 33,970 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 37,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Clorox by 2.2% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,492,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,372,000 after buying an additional 31,510 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.21.

Clorox Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of CLX opened at $147.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.31 billion, a PE ratio of 40.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $159.55 and its 200 day moving average is $159.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.94. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s payout ratio 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.