Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Given New $162.00 Price Target at DA Davidson

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) had its price target lifted by DA Davidson from $152.00 to $162.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Clorox from $127.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Clorox from $152.00 to $124.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Citigroup raised Clorox from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. Finally, HSBC started coverage on Clorox in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. They issued a hold rating and a $146.00 price objective for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $138.13.

Clorox Stock Performance

CLX stock opened at $137.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 18.92, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $129.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.11. The company has a market capitalization of $17.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 201.51, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.35. Clorox has a 1-year low of $114.68 and a 1-year high of $178.21.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by $0.69. Clorox had a return on equity of 195.76% and a net margin of 1.22%. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Clorox will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio is presently 705.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Clorox by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,685,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,041,661,000 after purchasing an additional 185,012 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,929,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,579,141,000 after purchasing an additional 466,197 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,818,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,149,000 after purchasing an additional 93,018 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,583,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,878,000 after purchasing an additional 124,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 17.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,415,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,517,000 after buying an additional 357,964 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.98% of the company’s stock.

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.