Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. Buys New Stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clorox in the first quarter worth about $31,000. First Foundation Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Clorox in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clorox in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Clorox by 139.8% in the second quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 223 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Clorox by 99.1% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 229 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $153.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, 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 research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Clorox Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of CLX stock traded down $0.62 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $158.40. The company had a trading volume of 317,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,220,835. The company’s fifty day moving average is $160.25 and its 200 day moving average is $145.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $114.68 and a fifty-two week high of $169.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.67 billion, a PE ratio of 82.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.28. Clorox had a net margin of 3.95% and a return on equity of 281.12%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Research analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.08%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is currently 252.85%.

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.