Stifel Financial Corp Acquires 9,582 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,344,408 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 9,582 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned approximately 1.89% of Clorox worth $380,761,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Clorox by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,507,152 shares of the company's stock worth $2,518,517,000 after purchasing an additional 124,428 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Clorox by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,098,302 shares of the company's stock worth $501,925,000 after buying an additional 69,969 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Clorox during the 4th quarter worth $259,041,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 75.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,361,758 shares of the company's stock valued at $221,163,000 after acquiring an additional 585,526 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Clorox by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,032,283 shares of the company's stock worth $165,816,000 after purchasing an additional 308,234 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Clorox from $176.00 to $154.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Clorox from $173.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $153.83.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE CLX traded up $0.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $138.28. 825,138 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,301,951. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $145.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.68. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $171.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.78, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox's payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

Clorox Company 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.