Baird Financial Group Inc. Cuts Position in The Clorox Company $CLX

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group cut its Clorox stake by 40.7% in the second quarter, selling 15,323 shares and retaining 22,365 shares valued at approximately $2.14 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high at 78.53%, with major investors including BlackRock, Bank of America, Norges Bank, and Bank of New York Mellon establishing new positions.
• Analysts remain cautious, assigning Clorox an average “Reduce” rating and a $101.40 price target. The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.25 per share, implying a 5.9% annualized yield, despite a payout ratio above 100%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 40.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,365 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,323 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Clorox were worth $2,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Clorox during the second quarter worth about $958,640,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $179,780,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $135,735,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $123,154,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $111,800,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Clorox from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Clorox from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $98.00 target price on Clorox in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Evercore set a $99.00 price target on Clorox in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on Clorox from $97.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $101.40.

Clorox Stock Up 0.1%

CLX opened at $84.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.80. The firm has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.56. The Clorox Company has a 52 week low of $83.76 and a 52 week high of $128.90. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $98.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.24.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.02. Clorox had a return on equity of 522.23% and a net margin of 8.74%.The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Clorox has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.700-6.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 5.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.9%. This is an increase from Clorox's previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. Clorox's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.73%.

Clorox Company Profile

The Clorox Company NYSE: CLX is a consumer products company that develops, manufactures and markets household, health and wellness, and lifestyle products. Its portfolio includes cleaning and disinfecting products, laundry and home-care items, food products, personal-care products, water-filtration systems, charcoal, and cat litter.

Clorox's brands include Clorox bleach and disinfecting products, Pine-Sol, Fresh Step and Scoop Away, Kingsford, Brita, Burt's Bees, Hidden Valley, and products marketed under the Glad name.

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