Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Sells 1,063 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC reduced its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 31.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,328 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,063 shares during the period. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CLX. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Clorox in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Clorox in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Clorox by 139.8% during the 2nd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Clorox by 99.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 229 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CLX. Barclays upped their price target on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.00.

Clorox Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Clorox stock opened at $169.30 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.41. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.54.

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

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 170.04%.

Insider Activity at Clorox

In related news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. The trade was a 11.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.