abrdn plc Lowers Stock Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

abrdn plc lowered its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 531,871 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,843 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Clorox were worth $85,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Clorox by 5.6% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 191,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,266,000 after buying an additional 10,149 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Clorox by 43.4% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,865,000 after buying an additional 9,037 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Clorox by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 63,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,341,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 723,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,932,000 after acquiring an additional 13,038 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Clorox from $139.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.64.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX opened at $148.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $162.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $158.67. The firm has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.67, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.42. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 170.04%.

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.