New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,412 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,914 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.08% of Clorox worth $14,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in Clorox by 75.9% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,130,481 shares of the company's stock worth $148,161,000 after acquiring an additional 487,974 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 17,658.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 484,453 shares of the company's stock worth $69,078,000 after acquiring an additional 481,725 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,467,713 shares of the company's stock worth $192,319,000 after acquiring an additional 415,999 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,415,054 shares of the company's stock worth $316,517,000 after acquiring an additional 357,964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,325,789 shares of the company's stock worth $173,758,000 after acquiring an additional 271,133 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CLX. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Clorox in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "sell" rating and a $140.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $136.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $148.63.

Clorox Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of CLX stock traded down $1.11 on Tuesday, hitting $147.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,784,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,217,056. The business has a 50 day moving average of $149.35 and a 200 day moving average of $142.95. The stock has a market cap of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 236.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.37, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The Clorox Company has a 12-month low of $114.68 and a 12-month high of $178.21.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $1.08. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 1.09% and a return on equity of 319.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Clorox's payout ratio is currently 761.92%.

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.