Brokerages Set The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Price Target at $159.62

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $159.62.

CLX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson cut their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays raised their target price on Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the third quarter worth about $207,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Clorox by 6.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 21,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,445,000 after buying an additional 1,332 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Clorox by 8.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 63,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,341,000 after buying an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Clorox by 2.5% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 6,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,075,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Clorox by 2.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,481,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Clorox Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE CLX opened at $145.46 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $153.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.87. 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 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

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.