Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Makes New Investment in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 11,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,920,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Clorox by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,507,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,518,517,000 after buying an additional 124,428 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,098,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,925,000 after acquiring an additional 69,969 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,344,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,761,000 after acquiring an additional 9,582 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox in the 4th quarter worth approximately $259,041,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Clorox by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,494,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,684,000 after purchasing an additional 230,173 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Clorox from $173.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Clorox from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $153.83.

Clorox Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CLX opened at $142.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.51 billion, a PE ratio of 38.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $144.83 and a 200-day moving average of $155.29. The Clorox Company has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. Clorox’s payout ratio is 133.33%.

Clorox 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.