Trek Financial LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Trek Financial LLC reduced its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 60.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,959 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,602 shares during the period. Trek Financial LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $2,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Clorox by 18.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in shares of Clorox by 6.8% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 16,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in shares of Clorox by 276.6% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 9,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,295,000 after acquiring an additional 6,844 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Clorox by 0.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 683,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,073,000 after acquiring an additional 5,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of Clorox by 81.1% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 24,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,410,000 after acquiring an additional 10,981 shares during the last quarter. 77.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CLX. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Clorox from $155.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Clorox from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com raised Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Atlantic Securities raised Clorox from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Kevin B. Jacobsen sold 3,346 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.82, for a total value of $538,103.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,224 shares in the company, valued at $3,734,883.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Price Performance

Clorox stock opened at $154.67 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $124.58 and a one year high of $178.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.38, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $156.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.06. The company has a market cap of $19.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.28.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.48. Clorox had a return on equity of 163.56% and a net margin of 2.02%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 9th were given a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 8th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. This is a boost from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 403.36%.

Clorox Company Profile

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.