The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $155.00.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CLX. TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clorox

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLX. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Clorox in the third quarter valued at about $54,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 32.8% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 267,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,524,000 after purchasing an additional 66,149 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Clorox during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $876,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 8.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 287,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,121,000 after buying an additional 22,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Clorox by 371.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 96,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,233,000 after buying an additional 76,397 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Clorox Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of CLX stock opened at $166.97 on Friday. Clorox has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $163.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.49. The stock has a market cap of $20.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.42.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. Analysts predict that Clorox will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is 170.04%.

Clorox Company 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.