L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Trims Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP lessened its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,770 shares of the company’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Clorox were worth $2,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in Clorox by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Clorox by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Regents Gate Capital LLP purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter worth approximately $269,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLX has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen raised shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $158.21.

Clorox Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:CLX opened at $148.47 on Wednesday. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.37. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $160.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $159.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.56, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.42.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. 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.