ExodusPoint Capital Management LP Grows Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

ExodusPoint Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 187.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 698,900 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 456,114 shares during the period. Clorox makes up 0.8% of ExodusPoint Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP’s holdings in Clorox were worth $113,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors bought a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at about $324,000. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the 4th quarter worth $1,939,000. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at $8,054,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in Clorox by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 2.3% during 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. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Clorox from $161.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.00.

Clorox Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of CLX opened at $147.77 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.61 and a 200 day moving average of $158.66. The company has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 40.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.