Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Sells 18,560 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 44.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,931 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,560 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $3,270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 20,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,885,000 after buying an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 17,658.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 484,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,078,000 after buying an additional 481,725 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Clorox by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 34,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,860,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tsfg LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 920 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CLX. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Clorox in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “sell” rating and a $140.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.63.

Clorox Price Performance

Shares of CLX opened at $142.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $17.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 225.86, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.43. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $114.68 and a 1-year high of $178.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $1.08. Clorox had a net margin of 1.09% and a return on equity of 319.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 761.92%.

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.