New York State Teachers Retirement System Decreases Stock Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 3.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 102,230 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,745 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Clorox were worth $16,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Clorox by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 326,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,987,000 after buying an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Clorox in the first quarter valued at $356,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Clorox by 99.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,136,000 after purchasing an additional 22,882 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Clorox by 18.3% during the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Clorox during the first quarter valued at $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of CLX opened at $163.12 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $161.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.41. The Clorox Company has a 12-month low of $121.76 and a 12-month high of $169.09.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 292.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Clorox Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 170.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clorox

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $153.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a report on Friday, September 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.29.

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.