Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CLX. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen raised shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $155.38.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of CLX opened at $162.89 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $164.58 and a 200-day moving average of $154.79. The company has a market cap of $20.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.00. Clorox has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. Clorox’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CLX. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $733,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC grew its position in Clorox by 150.6% during the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,597,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,035,000 after purchasing an additional 960,094 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP grew its position in Clorox by 512.7% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 542,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,315,000 after purchasing an additional 453,624 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in Clorox by 13,547.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 440,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,063,000 after buying an additional 436,891 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 424.9% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 538,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $877,390,000 after buying an additional 435,971 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% 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.