Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Stock

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $137.00 to $139.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on CLX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $153.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $122.00 target price on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.29.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX opened at $163.11 on Friday. Clorox has a 1 year low of $121.76 and a 1 year high of $169.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $161.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $146.19.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Clorox’s payout ratio is 170.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,471 shares in the company, valued at $2,229,719.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Insight Folios Inc grew its position in Clorox by 3.0% during the third quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 2,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 19,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 2.0% during the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Clorox by 2.2% in the second quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Clorox by 17.2% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

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.