Sentry Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 650 shares of the company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Clorox were worth $93,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Clorox in the third quarter valued at about $6,605,000. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC acquired a new stake in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $2,940,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of Clorox by 742.8% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 78,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,316,000 after purchasing an additional 69,373 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $162.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Clorox from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.63.

Clorox Stock Up 0.5 %

CLX stock opened at $143.12 on Friday. The Clorox Company has a one year low of $114.68 and a one year 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $150.18 and its 200 day moving average is $141.70. The firm has a market cap of $17.76 billion, a PE ratio of 227.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.43.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $1.08. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 319.41% and a net margin of 1.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 5.52 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s payout ratio is 761.92%.

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.