Range Financial Group LLC Raises Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Range Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 223.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,972 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,433 shares during the quarter. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 9,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Clorox by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 521 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Clorox by 6.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,641,000 after purchasing an additional 9,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CLX. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Clorox from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $157.00 in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.46.

Clorox Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:CLX traded up $2.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $159.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,229,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,090,074. The Clorox Company has a 12-month low of $127.60 and a 12-month high of $171.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.67, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.17.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. Clorox’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 170.03%.

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.