Norges Bank Purchases New Shares in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,594,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,041,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CLX. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 153 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 300.0% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 184 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CLX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.50.

Clorox Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CLX opened at $146.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The company has a market capitalization of $18.01 billion, a PE ratio of 39.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The Clorox Company has a 12-month low of $127.60 and a 12-month high of $171.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $159.03.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be paid a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.