Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Clorox (NYSE:CLX) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

CLX has been the topic of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $98.00 price objective on Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $97.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Clorox in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $101.40.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of CLX stock opened at $85.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a PE ratio of 17.66, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.80, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.38. Clorox has a one year low of $82.51 and a one year high of $128.90.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 8.74% and a return on equity of 522.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. Clorox has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.700-6.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Clorox will post 5.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. This is a positive change from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.73%.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 1.8% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 5,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Clorox by 9.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in Clorox by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Clorox by 83.8% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. increased its stake in Clorox by 61.2% in the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Clorox

The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) is a consumer products company that develops, manufactures and markets household, health and wellness, and lifestyle products. Its portfolio includes cleaning and disinfecting products, laundry and home-care items, food products, personal-care products, water-filtration systems, charcoal, and cat litter.

Clorox’s brands include Clorox bleach and disinfecting products, Pine-Sol, Fresh Step and Scoop Away, Kingsford, Brita, Burt’s Bees, Hidden Valley, and products marketed under the Glad name.