Wells Fargo & Company Trims Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Target Price to $135.00

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) had its price target reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CLX. Barclays decreased their target price on Clorox from $136.00 to $132.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Clorox from an underperform rating to a hold rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Clorox from $159.00 to $158.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley restated an equal weight rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Clorox from $164.00 to $159.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $146.43.

Clorox Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE CLX traded down $1.44 on Thursday, hitting $138.23. 2,036,238 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,340,454. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $148.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.44. Clorox has a 52-week low of $114.68 and a 52-week high of $176.24.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Clorox will post 5.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Clorox’s payout ratio is 248.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clorox

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Clorox by 0.3% in the third 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 last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Clorox by 17.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,415,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,517,000 after buying an additional 357,964 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Clorox by 2.2% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,184,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,356,000 after buying an additional 47,879 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Clorox by 1.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,738,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,904,000 after acquiring an additional 30,902 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Clorox by 2.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,633,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,103,000 after acquiring an additional 42,352 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.