Brokerages Set The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Price Target at $142.18

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Reduce" from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $142.1818.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CLX. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $137.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $135.00 price target (down from $140.00) on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $134.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Clorox from $129.00 to $119.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Clorox from $167.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th.

Clorox Trading Down 0.5%

Clorox stock traded down $0.66 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $123.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,519,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,811,479. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $124.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $132.30. Clorox has a 1 year low of $116.53 and a 1 year high of $171.37. The firm has a market cap of $15.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.15, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.63. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 11.40% and a return on equity of 377.86%. The company's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. Clorox has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.950-6.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. This is a positive change from Clorox's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Clorox's payout ratio is 76.07%.

Insider Activity at Clorox

In other news, COO Eric H. Reynolds sold 15,041 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.78, for a total value of $1,861,774.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 54,221 shares in the company, valued at $6,711,475.38. This represents a 21.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clorox

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Clorox by 1.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,845,496 shares of the company's stock worth $1,902,569,000 after purchasing an additional 272,420 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Clorox by 138.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,245,175 shares of the company's stock worth $389,648,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883,465 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Clorox during the second quarter worth approximately $190,429,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Clorox by 2.3% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,528,920 shares of the company's stock worth $225,133,000 after purchasing an additional 34,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Clorox by 218.4% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,249,127 shares of the company's stock worth $149,983,000 after purchasing an additional 856,873 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.