Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 7,500 The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 7,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Graypoint LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox during the 4th quarter worth approximately $208,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Clorox by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its stake in Clorox by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Clorox by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Clorox in the 4th quarter valued at $266,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of CLX stock opened at $145.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $149.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.23. The company has a market cap of $18.12 billion, a PE ratio of 231.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.43. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $114.68 and a fifty-two week high of $178.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.37, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $1.08. Clorox had a return on equity of 319.41% and a net margin of 1.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that The Clorox Company will post 5.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 761.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on CLX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Clorox from $155.00 to $151.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Clorox from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on Clorox from $148.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $148.63.

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.