Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Takes Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 12,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,794,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in Clorox by 75.9% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,130,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,161,000 after buying an additional 487,974 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 17,658.5% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 484,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,078,000 after purchasing an additional 481,725 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 39.6% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,467,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,319,000 after purchasing an additional 415,999 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 17.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,415,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,517,000 after purchasing an additional 357,964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 25.7% during the third quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,325,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,758,000 after purchasing an additional 271,133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $162.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $155.00 to $151.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $148.63.

Clorox Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CLX opened at $147.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.37, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $149.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.27. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $114.68 and a fifty-two week high of $178.21. The firm has a market cap of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 234.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.43.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Clorox’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is presently 761.92%.

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.