WCM Investment Management LLC Sells 4,079 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

WCM Investment Management LLC cut its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 54.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,387 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,079 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $547,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Clorox by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,332,947,000 after buying an additional 245,525 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Clorox by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,713,000 after purchasing an additional 33,970 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,334,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,370,000 after purchasing an additional 37,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Clorox by 2.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,492,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,372,000 after purchasing an additional 31,510 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen raised shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered 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 given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.21.

Clorox Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CLX opened at $147.08 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The firm has a market cap of $18.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.42. The Clorox Company has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.37. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $161.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $159.07.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 3.32%. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

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.