Short Interest in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Decreases By 5.0%

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,360,000 shares, a decrease of 5.0% from the May 31st total of 4,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Clorox Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:CLX opened at $133.54 on Wednesday. Clorox has a 1 year low of $114.68 and a 1 year high of $169.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.19, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $136.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.38. Clorox had a return on equity of 302.49% and a net margin of 3.33%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CLX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Clorox by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,341,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,010,622,000 after buying an additional 44,344 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Clorox by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,738,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,904,000 after buying an additional 30,902 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Clorox in the 4th quarter valued at about $144,844,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Clorox in the 4th quarter valued at about $128,382,000. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Clorox in the 4th quarter valued at about $128,245,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CLX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Clorox from $155.00 to $151.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Clorox from $159.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $162.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Clorox from $136.00 to $132.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.33.

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.