Short Interest in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Increases By 18.6%

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,760,000 shares, a growth of 18.6% from the October 31st total of 3,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CLX. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Barclays boosted 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. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clorox

In other Clorox news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. This trade represents a 11.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Clorox by 32.8% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 267,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,524,000 after buying an additional 66,149 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Clorox during the second quarter worth $876,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Clorox by 140.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 74,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,335,000 after buying an additional 43,265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Clorox Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Clorox stock opened at $166.47 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08. Clorox has a 12-month low of $127.60 and a 12-month high of $171.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.00, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $163.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $149.68.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. Analysts predict that Clorox will post 6.85 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be issued a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.