Kentucky Retirement Systems Trims Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its holdings in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,425 shares of the company’s stock after selling 496 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Clorox were worth $1,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at about $144,844,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at about $128,382,000. Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at about $128,245,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox in the first quarter valued at about $135,630,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $69,078,000 after purchasing an additional 481,725 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CLX shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Clorox from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Clorox from $158.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Clorox from $155.00 to $151.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $162.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Clorox from $132.00 to $122.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.13.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CLX traded up $1.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $134.61. The company had a trading volume of 1,452,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 975,197. The stock has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.75, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39. 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 current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.66.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.38. Clorox had a return on equity of 302.49% and a net margin of 3.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox 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.