Vest Financial LLC Sells 5,033 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Vest Financial LLC cut its holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 1.4% 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 357,014 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,033 shares during the quarter. Clorox accounts for 1.0% of Vest Financial LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.29% of Clorox worth $57,983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company's stock worth $733,095,000 after acquiring an additional 4,490,421 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 512.7% in 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 last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 424.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 538,576 shares of the company's stock worth $877,390,000 after acquiring an additional 435,971 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 5,442.5% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 273,908 shares of the company's stock worth $44,622,000 after acquiring an additional 268,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 302.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 353,367 shares of the company's stock worth $57,390,000 after acquiring an additional 265,455 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CLX shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Clorox from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $158.21.

Clorox Price Performance

Shares of CLX stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $148.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 842,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,340,792. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37. The company has a market cap of $18.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.62, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm's 50-day moving average is $160.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.26.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 316.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.