The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Shares Sold by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 187,568 shares of the company's stock after selling 28,079 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.15% of Clorox worth $30,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity at Clorox

In related news, Director Pierre R. Breber purchased 4,000 shares of Clorox stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $136.57 per share, with a total value of $546,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,280. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Clorox Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Clorox stock traded up $0.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $131.76. 2,492,592 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,344,000. The stock has a market cap of $16.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.60. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $138.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $151.24. The Clorox Company has a 12-month low of $128.79 and a 12-month high of $171.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.74 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. Clorox's revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $140.00 price target on shares of Clorox and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $134.00 to $129.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $176.00 to $154.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $151.23.

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.