Plato Investment Management Ltd Purchases 3,355 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 226.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,837 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,355 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Clorox were worth $660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Clorox in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $101,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its position in Clorox by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 23,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,314,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Clorox by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,604,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Clorox by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 3,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 467 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its position in shares of Clorox by 170.8% in the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 1,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 931 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Clorox

In other Clorox news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on CLX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Clorox from $150.00 to $148.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $153.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a report on Friday, September 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.50.

Clorox Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CLX opened at $166.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.03. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $114.68 and a 52-week high of $167.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.24. The firm has a market cap of $20.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.15, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.40.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 281.12% and a net margin of 3.95%. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. This is a positive change from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is currently 252.85%.

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.