Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Price Target Lowered to $139.00 at Evercore ISI

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) had its price target trimmed by Evercore ISI from $140.00 to $139.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CLX. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $153.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen began coverage on Clorox in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $122.00 price target for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.14.

Clorox Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CLX opened at $163.43 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $158.53 and its 200 day moving average is $144.98. Clorox has a 1 year low of $114.68 and a 1 year high of $169.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 84.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.28. Clorox had a return on equity of 281.12% and a net margin of 3.95%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Clorox will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 252.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of Clorox stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,719.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in Clorox by 13.9% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 21,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,527,000 after buying an additional 2,649 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Clorox by 3.0% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Clorox during the third quarter worth $339,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Clorox during the third quarter worth $1,075,000. Finally, Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Clorox by 173.1% during the third quarter. Culbertson A N & Co. Inc. now owns 9,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,538,000 after buying an additional 5,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.