Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 7,568 Shares of The Clorox Company $CLX

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 2.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 326,436 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,568 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Clorox were worth $39,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in Clorox by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 13,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Clorox by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 1,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sfmg LLC increased its stake in shares of Clorox by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 2,780 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its stake in Clorox by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust increased its stake in Clorox by 69.5% in the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 217 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Clorox from $134.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on shares of Clorox from $118.00 to $110.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $130.20.

Clorox Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE CLX opened at $115.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $120.99 and a 200 day moving average of $126.50. The Clorox Company has a 1 year low of $114.55 and a 1 year high of $171.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.15, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.24 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 11.40% and a return on equity of 377.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. Clorox has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.950-6.30 EPS. Research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 22nd will be issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 22nd. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Clorox’s payout ratio is presently 76.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Eric H. Reynolds sold 15,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.78, for a total transaction of $1,861,774.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 54,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,711,475.38. The trade was a 21.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

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.