United Asset Strategies Inc. Buys 257 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

United Asset Strategies Inc. boosted its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,587 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $5,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 0.3% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 34,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,214,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 0.3% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 326,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,987,000 after purchasing an additional 923 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Clorox in the first quarter worth $356,000. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Clorox during the first quarter worth $7,490,000. Finally, Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Clorox in the first quarter valued at $303,000. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CLX. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $153.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.14.

Clorox Stock Performance

Clorox stock traded up $5.17 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $161.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,200,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,226,816. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $161.14 and a 200 day moving average of $145.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $20.08 billion, a PE ratio of 81.12, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $114.68 and a one year high of $169.09.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a return on equity of 281.12% and a net margin of 3.95%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 252.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Clorox news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares in the company, valued at $2,229,719.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Clorox Company Profile

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.