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

Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $156.75.

CLX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $161.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Clorox from $173.00 to $151.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday.

Clorox Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE CLX opened at $141.35 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.41 billion, a PE ratio of 38.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.61. Clorox has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $157.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company earned $2.16 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Clorox will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be issued a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 9.7% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 8,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 300.0% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 184 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 30,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,027,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,713,000 after purchasing an additional 33,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 128.5% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.