Point72 Hong Kong Ltd Decreases Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lessened its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 76.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,700 shares of the company's stock after selling 38,310 shares during the quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Clorox were worth $1,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,098,302 shares of the company's stock valued at $501,925,000 after purchasing an additional 69,969 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,344,408 shares of the company's stock valued at $380,761,000 after purchasing an additional 9,582 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $259,041,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,494,265 shares of the company's stock valued at $242,684,000 after purchasing an additional 230,173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CLX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 target price on shares of Clorox and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Clorox from $151.00 to $144.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.23.

Insider Transactions at Clorox

In other news, Director Pierre R. Breber bought 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $136.57 per share, for a total transaction of $546,280.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 4,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $546,280. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX stock traded down $2.53 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $132.99. The stock had a trading volume of 532,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,323,267. The company's 50 day moving average price is $140.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.97. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37. The stock has a market cap of $16.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.94.

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

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox's payout ratio is currently 87.61%.

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.