Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 3,820 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,296 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,820 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.05% of Clorox worth $10,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Clorox by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,332,947,000 after purchasing an additional 245,525 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 buying an additional 33,970 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Clorox by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,334,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,370,000 after buying an additional 37,967 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Clorox by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,032,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,816,000 after buying an additional 308,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Clorox by 27.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 776,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,456,000 after acquiring an additional 168,111 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CLX shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.62.

Clorox Trading Up 0.3 %

Clorox stock opened at $145.33 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 $17.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $153.40 and a 200 day moving average of $159.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52.

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, beating 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 quarter last year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. 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.