Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 8,073 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,300 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,073 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of Clorox worth $10,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CLX. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP increased its position in Clorox by 512.7% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 542,110 shares of the company's stock worth $88,315,000 after acquiring an additional 453,624 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in Clorox by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,032,283 shares of the company's stock worth $165,816,000 after purchasing an additional 308,234 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 302.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 353,367 shares of the company's stock worth $57,390,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Clorox by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,332,947,000 after buying an additional 245,525 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Clorox during the fourth quarter worth about $37,935,000. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CLX shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $159.50.

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Clorox Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CLX traded up $1.00 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $147.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,201,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,278,756. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $159.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox's 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.