Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $859,000 Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,835 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CLX. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Clorox

In other news, Director Pierre R. Breber acquired 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $136.57 per share, for a total transaction of $546,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,280. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CLX. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Clorox and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Clorox from $176.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $151.00 to $144.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.23.

Clorox Price Performance

NYSE:CLX opened at $123.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.35. The company has a market cap of $15.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.54. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $122.84 and a 52-week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.12). Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. Clorox’s quarterly revenue was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.