Meridian Wealth Management LLC Trims Stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,488 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,332,947,000 after acquiring an additional 245,525 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,713,000 after purchasing an additional 33,970 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,334,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,370,000 after purchasing an additional 37,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 27.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 776,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,456,000 after purchasing an additional 168,111 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CLX shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.62.

Clorox Stock Performance

CLX stock opened at $149.76 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $18.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.92, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.41. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.37. 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 316.87%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s payout ratio is 133.33%.

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.