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

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $157.46.

A number of brokerages recently commented on CLX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen raised shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Clorox from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $157.00 in a research report on Tuesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Insight Folios Inc grew its position in Clorox by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC increased its position in Clorox by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 19,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Clorox by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 17.2% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:CLX opened at $160.73 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $164.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.37. Clorox has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08.

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

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s payout ratio is 170.03%.

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.