Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Increases Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,552 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,277 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned 0.09% of Clorox worth $17,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Clorox by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,507,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,518,517,000 after purchasing an additional 124,428 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,098,302 shares of the company's stock valued at $501,925,000 after buying an additional 69,969 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Clorox by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,344,408 shares of the company's stock valued at $380,761,000 after buying an additional 9,582 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Clorox in the 4th quarter valued at about $259,041,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Clorox by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,494,265 shares of the company's stock worth $242,684,000 after buying an additional 230,173 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CLX. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $134.00 to $129.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group cut their price target on Clorox from $176.00 to $154.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $151.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pierre R. Breber purchased 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $136.57 per share, with a total value of $546,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $546,280. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE CLX traded down $1.33 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $120.77. 1,724,088 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,363,794. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.07. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $120.69 and a 1 year high of $171.37. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $133.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $147.55.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.74 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 324.23% and a net margin of 9.89%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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.