Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Purchases 1,144 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,773 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,144 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $1,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Clorox by 99.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,136,000 after purchasing an additional 22,882 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Clorox in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Clorox by 44.2% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,527,000 after purchasing an additional 5,056 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $122.00 price target for the company. BNP Paribas raised Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $151.57.

Clorox Stock Down 0.4 %

Clorox stock opened at $162.48 on Tuesday. 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 Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $125.46 and a 1-year high of $169.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.33. The company has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.41.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 6.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 170.04%.

Insider Transactions at Clorox

In other Clorox news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $286,846.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,719.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is 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.