California Public Employees Retirement System Has $91.89 Million Holdings in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Free Report) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 565,810 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,987 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.46% of Clorox worth $91,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,507,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,518,517,000 after buying an additional 124,428 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Clorox by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company's stock worth $1,332,947,000 after purchasing an additional 245,525 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Clorox by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company's stock worth $491,713,000 after purchasing an additional 33,970 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Clorox by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,334,826 shares of the company's stock valued at $380,370,000 after buying an additional 37,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Clorox during the 4th quarter worth approximately $259,041,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CLX. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clorox from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $159.00.

Clorox Trading Down 3.3 %

Clorox stock traded down $4.93 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $143.76. 2,292,858 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,285,183. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $150.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.28, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The Clorox Company has a fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 316.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Clorox Company will post 7.15 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 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox's dividend payout ratio 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.