Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Sells 100 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,935 shares of the company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Clorox by 1,715.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,461,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,411,000 after buying an additional 1,380,724 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 150.6% during the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,597,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,035,000 after buying an additional 960,094 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 13,547.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 440,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,063,000 after acquiring an additional 436,891 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 424.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 538,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $877,390,000 after acquiring an additional 435,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in Clorox by 5,442.5% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 273,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,622,000 after acquiring an additional 268,966 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CLX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.14.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of CLX stock opened at $156.82 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $161.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $145.82. The Clorox Company has a 12 month low of $114.68 and a 12 month high of $169.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.25, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 3.95% and a return on equity of 281.12%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is currently 252.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Clorox news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

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.