Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Acquires New Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Clorox during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 139.8% in the second quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors purchased a new stake in Clorox in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Clorox during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in Clorox by 99.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Clorox Trading Up 0.1 %

CLX opened at $162.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.58. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $169.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 6.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Clorox’s payout ratio is 170.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CLX shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of Clorox stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

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.