Legal & General Group Plc Sells 242,072 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 980,410 shares of the company's stock after selling 242,072 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.79% of Clorox worth $159,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 153 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in Clorox by 300.0% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 184 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on CLX. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $173.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Clorox from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Clorox from $139.00 to $134.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $155.08.

Clorox Trading Down 0.6 %

CLX traded down $0.81 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $140.13. The stock had a trading volume of 210,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,457,019. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $147.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.05.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.