Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Raises Stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 386,674 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,971 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.31% of Clorox worth $62,800,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Clorox in the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Clorox by 549.8% in the 4th 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 period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 13,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Clorox by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $735,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on CLX. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Clorox from $176.00 to $154.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Clorox has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.83.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX stock opened at $139.60 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 Clorox Company has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.37. The stock has a market cap of $17.20 billion, a PE ratio of 38.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $146.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.45.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s payout ratio is presently 133.33%.

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.