Invesco Ltd. Raises Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,361,710 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 94,371 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.10% of Clorox worth $200,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CLX. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 239.1% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 295 shares of the company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc increased its stake in Clorox by 140.7% in the first quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 361 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Clorox in the first quarter valued at $58,000. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Clorox Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Clorox stock traded up $0.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $122.17. 1,204,790 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,871,838. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.15. The stock's fifty day moving average is $124.84 and its 200 day moving average is $136.64. The firm has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.49. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $117.35 and a 1 year high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 11.40% and a return on equity of 377.86%. Clorox's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This is an increase from Clorox's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. Clorox's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on CLX. Barclays reduced their target price on Clorox from $129.00 to $119.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Clorox from $167.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Clorox from $150.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price target on shares of Clorox and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.36.

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.