Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC Sells 1,063 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,745 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,063 shares during the period. Clorox comprises approximately 0.6% of Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Clorox by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,341,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,010,622,000 after purchasing an additional 44,344 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,415,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,517,000 after buying an additional 357,964 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,184,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,356,000 after buying an additional 47,879 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,738,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,904,000 after buying an additional 30,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,633,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,103,000 after buying an additional 42,352 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CLX. Citigroup cut their target price on Clorox from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Clorox in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “sell” rating and a $140.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.63.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE:CLX traded up $1.82 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $147.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,101,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,205,563. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.37. The Clorox Company has a 52 week low of $114.68 and a 52 week high of $178.21. The firm has a market cap of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 234.59, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $149.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $142.27.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $1.08. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 1.09% and a return on equity of 319.41%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is presently 761.90%.

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.