Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Stock Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 5th, 2023

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX – Get Rating) by 46.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,408 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,739 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Clorox were worth $2,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,964,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,407,673,000 after purchasing an additional 580,982 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Clorox by 4,186.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 303,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,982,000 after purchasing an additional 296,539 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Clorox by 38.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,051,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,216,000 after buying an additional 290,833 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,161,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,492,000 after buying an additional 215,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,635,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,869,000 after buying an additional 210,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CLX shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Clorox from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Clorox from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $150.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.08.

Clorox Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of CLX stock opened at $171.04 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $120.50 and a fifty-two week high of $178.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $158.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $149.79. The stock has a market cap of $21.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 294.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.29. Clorox had a net margin of 6.16% and a return on equity of 89.97%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be paid a $1.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 25th. This represents a $4.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 813.79%.

Clorox Company Profile

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The Clorox Co engages in the manufacture and marketing of consumer and professional products. It operates through the following business segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The Health and Wellness segment consists of cleaning products, professional products and vitamins, minerals and supplements mainly marketed and sold in the United States.