Martin Capital Partners LLC Sells 17,561 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Martin Capital Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 89.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,035 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,561 shares during the quarter. Martin Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,095,000 after buying an additional 4,490,421 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its stake in Clorox by 512.7% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 542,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,315,000 after acquiring an additional 453,624 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 424.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 538,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $877,390,000 after purchasing an additional 435,971 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in Clorox by 5,442.5% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,622,000 after purchasing an additional 268,966 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Clorox by 302.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 353,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,390,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Clorox presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $157.50.

Clorox Trading Down 7.2 %

Shares of CLX stock opened at $148.29 on Wednesday. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $158.76. 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 company has a market capitalization of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.67, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis 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 currently 170.04%.

Clorox 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.