Invesco Ltd. Raises Stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,361,710 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 94,371 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $200,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CLX. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Clorox by 688.7% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 587,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,535,000 after purchasing an additional 513,171 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Clorox by 549.8% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 542,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,144,000 after purchasing an additional 459,203 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc lifted its stake in Clorox by 154.6% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 570,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,655,000 after purchasing an additional 346,449 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 11,108.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 349,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,409,000 after purchasing an additional 346,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Clorox by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,421,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,932,000 after purchasing an additional 316,688 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CLX. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $134.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $167.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $137.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.36.

Clorox Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CLX opened at $122.78 on Thursday. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $117.35 and a 1 year high of $171.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.15, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $125.06 and its 200 day moving average is $137.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.49.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 11.40% and a return on equity of 377.86%. Clorox’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be issued a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. This is a boost from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.85%.

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.