The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $158.21.

CLX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Clorox in the fourth quarter valued at $259,041,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Clorox by 75.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,361,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,163,000 after buying an additional 585,526 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Clorox by 549.8% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 542,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,144,000 after acquiring an additional 459,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Clorox by 187.9% during the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 698,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,508,000 after acquiring an additional 456,114 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Clorox Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Clorox stock opened at $157.00 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $157.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.13. The company has a market capitalization of $19.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.90, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52. Clorox has a 12-month low of $127.60 and a 12-month high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business earned $2.16 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Clorox will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.