Royal Bank of Canada Has $261.85 Million Stock Position in The Clorox Company $CLX

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada decreased its holdings in Clorox by 10.9%, selling 218,213 shares and now owns 1.44% of the company valued at approximately $261.85 million.
• Clorox reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.87, exceeding expectations by $0.63, with a revenue increase of 4.5% year-over-year, totaling $1.99 billion.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.24, translating to an annualized dividend of $4.96 and a yield of 4.2%, up from the previous $1.22 per share.

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 10.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,778,268 shares of the company's stock after selling 218,213 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 1.44% of Clorox worth $261,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,265 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 34.8% in the first quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,720 shares of the company's stock worth $2,315,000 after acquiring an additional 4,062 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.0% in the first quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 4,737 shares of the company's stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Caption Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Clorox in the first quarter worth about $4,418,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 53.5% in the first quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 8,616 shares of the company's stock worth $1,269,000 after acquiring an additional 3,004 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CLX shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $135.00 target price (down from $140.00) on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Clorox from $138.00 to $130.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $137.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $142.64.

Clorox Price Performance

Shares of Clorox stock traded up $2.45 on Friday, reaching $127.08. 3,231,696 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,756,627. The firm's 50 day moving average is $124.17 and its 200-day moving average is $133.35. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $116.53 and a one year high of $171.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.15, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a PE ratio of 19.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.52.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Clorox had a net margin of 11.40% and a return on equity of 377.86%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.82 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Clorox has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.950-6.30 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This is a boost from Clorox's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Clorox's payout ratio is currently 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.