Grove Bank & Trust Cuts Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Grove Bank & Trust decreased its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 46.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 165 shares of the company’s stock after selling 144 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Clorox were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CLX. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of Clorox by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Clorox by 300.0% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Clorox by 99.1% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Clorox in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on CLX shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Clorox from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $155.00 to $157.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $174.00 to $187.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Clorox from $139.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.54.

Clorox Stock Performance

Clorox stock opened at $160.31 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $164.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.71. 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 Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $171.37. The company has a market capitalization of $19.84 billion, a PE ratio of 55.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.42.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is presently 170.03%.

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.