Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $157.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $155.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 2.32% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CLX. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.46.

Clorox Stock Performance

Clorox stock opened at $160.73 on Tuesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $127.60 and a fifty-two week high of $171.37. The stock has a market cap of $19.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.00, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Clorox will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 46,877.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490,421 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 150.6% during the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,597,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,035,000 after buying an additional 960,094 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 512.7% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 542,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,315,000 after buying an additional 453,624 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 13,547.0% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Clorox by 424.9% in 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. 78.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.