US Bancorp DE Buys 10,266 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Key Points

• US Bancorp DE increased its stake in The Clorox Company by 8.1%, acquiring an additional 10,266 shares, totaling approximately $20.16 million in ownership.
• Clorox recently reported a strong quarterly performance with an EPS of $2.87, exceeding estimates, alongside a 4.5% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.24 per share, representing a current dividend yield of 4.0%.

US Bancorp DE grew its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 8.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 136,931 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,266 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE owned about 0.11% of Clorox worth $20,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Clorox during the 1st quarter worth about $247,000. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox in the first quarter valued at $399,000. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. purchased a new position in Clorox in the first quarter worth approximately $400,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 33.5% in the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 28,510 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 25,582 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,085 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CLX. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price target on Clorox and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Clorox from $167.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Clorox from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Clorox from $129.00 to $119.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.36.

Clorox Stock Up 0.4%

CLX traded up $0.56 on Thursday, reaching $126.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,479,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,637,487. The business's 50 day moving average is $125.74 and its 200 day moving average is $138.42. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $117.35 and a 1 year high of $171.37. The stock has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.15, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

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 analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This is a positive change from Clorox's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. Clorox's dividend payout ratio is 74.85%.

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.