Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 14,765 Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its position in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,531 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,765 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Clorox worth $10,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Clorox during the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 5.6% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 191,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,266,000 after purchasing an additional 10,149 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 43.4% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,865,000 after purchasing an additional 9,037 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 8.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 63,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,341,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 723,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,932,000 after purchasing an additional 13,038 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $158.21.

Clorox Stock Up 1.5 %

CLX stock opened at $157.00 on Wednesday. The Clorox Company has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $157.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $160.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.33%.

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.