Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 1,380 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX – Get Rating) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,529 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,380 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Clorox were worth $5,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Clorox by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,685,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,041,661,000 after purchasing an additional 185,012 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 5.6% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,964,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,407,673,000 after acquiring an additional 580,982 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 11.1% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,161,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,492,000 after acquiring an additional 215,425 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 1.1% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,931,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,515,000 after acquiring an additional 21,058 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 14.8% during the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,635,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,869,000 after acquiring an additional 210,575 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.12% of the company’s stock.

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Clorox Trading Up 4.7 %

CLX opened at $175.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $21.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.64. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $120.50 and a fifty-two week high of $178.21.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 89.97% and a net margin of 6.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th will be paid a $1.18 dividend. This represents a $4.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 25th. Clorox’s payout ratio is presently 134.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on CLX shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Clorox from $137.00 to $151.00 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their target price on Clorox from $148.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.69.

About Clorox

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The Clorox Co engages in the manufacture and marketing of consumer and professional products. It operates through the following business segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The Health and Wellness segment consists of cleaning products, professional products and vitamins, minerals and supplements mainly marketed and sold in the United States.

Further Reading

• Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Clorox (CLX)
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