Eastern Bank Purchases Shares of 6,307 The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,307 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,027,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 2.5% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,228 shares of the company's stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the third quarter valued at about $48,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 1.8% in the third quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 5,743 shares of the company's stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Retirement Guys Formula LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 7.6% in the third quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC now owns 5,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $825,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the period. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 5.4% in the third quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 11,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,809,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CLX. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Clorox to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $174.00 to $187.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $130.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $150.14.

Insider Activity at Clorox

In related news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,229,719.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Clorox Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of CLX traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $159.04. 941,226 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,225,336. The company has a market cap of $19.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $114.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock's 50-day moving average is $160.25 and its 200-day moving average is $145.43.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.97 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 3.95% and a return on equity of 281.12%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. Clorox's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 252.85%.

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.