Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 28,046 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in The Clorox Company by 49.5%, owning 84,738 shares valued at approximately $12,478,000 after purchasing 28,046 additional shares.
• Clorox reported a quarterly earnings miss with an EPS of $1.45, falling short of analysts' estimates of $1.57, and its revenue declined by 8.0% compared to the previous year.
• Several hedge funds have adjusted their positions in Clorox, with institutional investors currently holding about 78.53% of the company's stock.

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 49.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,738 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 28,046 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers owned about 0.07% of Clorox worth $12,478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Clorox by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 76,400 shares of the company's stock worth $12,408,000 after purchasing an additional 11,606 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in Clorox by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 9,271 shares of the company's stock worth $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Clorox by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 74,605 shares of the company's stock worth $12,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,787 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp bought a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth $605,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Clorox by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 565,810 shares of the company's stock worth $91,893,000 after purchasing an additional 6,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CLX shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Clorox from $167.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Clorox from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price target on Clorox and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $135.00 price target (down from $140.00) on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Clorox from $129.00 to $119.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $143.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Pierre R. Breber purchased 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $136.57 per share, for a total transaction of $546,280.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 4,000 shares in the company, valued at $546,280. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE CLX traded down $2.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,928,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,666,065. The Clorox Company has a 12 month low of $117.35 and a 12 month high of $171.37. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $126.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.01. The company has a market cap of $15.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.07, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.63. Clorox had a return on equity of 538.72% and a net margin of 11.40%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. Clorox's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. This is an increase from Clorox's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. Clorox's dividend payout ratio is presently 76.07%.

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.