Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 49.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,227 shares of the company's stock after selling 27,397 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Clorox were worth $4,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,718 shares of the company's stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors boosted its position in Clorox by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors now owns 6,870 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in Clorox by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the company's stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,238,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in Clorox by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 153 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Clorox

In other news, Director Pierre R. Breber bought 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 purchase, the director now owns 4,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,280. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Clorox Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:CLX traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $136.31. The company had a trading volume of 3,182,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,321,308. The company has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $141.30 and a 200 day moving average of $153.49.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.74 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox's dividend payout ratio is presently 87.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CLX. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on Clorox and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays decreased their price target on Clorox from $134.00 to $129.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.23.

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.