Sciencast Management LP Purchases Shares of 4,174 The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $639,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Clorox by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,341,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,010,622,000 after purchasing an additional 44,344 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Clorox by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,738,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,904,000 after buying an additional 30,902 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth approximately $144,844,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $128,382,000. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $128,245,000. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on CLX shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Clorox from $164.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Clorox from $159.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Clorox in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Clorox from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.67.

Clorox Stock Performance

CLX stock traded up $1.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $136.40. The company had a trading volume of 734,746 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,244,543. The Clorox Company has a 12 month low of $114.68 and a 12 month high of $169.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $134.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.19. The firm has a market cap of $16.94 billion, a PE ratio of 70.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.39.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 302.49% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.51 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.