Sovran Advisors LLC Takes $261,000 Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Clorox during the 3rd quarter valued at $231,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in Clorox during the third quarter valued at about $214,000. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Clorox by 7.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,739,000 after buying an additional 1,996 shares during the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Clorox during the 3rd quarter worth about $224,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 27,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CLX. Barclays upped their target price on Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.21.

Clorox Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE CLX opened at $150.77 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37. The company has a market capitalization of $18.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.19, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $159.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast 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, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s payout ratio is 133.33%.

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.