Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Given New $135.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on CLX. DA Davidson reissued a neutral rating and issued a $162.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays decreased their price target on Clorox from $136.00 to $132.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price objective on Clorox from $164.00 to $159.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from an underperform rating to a hold rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $149.13.

Clorox Stock Performance

CLX stock traded down $1.44 during trading on Thursday, reaching $138.23. 2,027,285 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,273,688. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73. Clorox has a twelve month low of $114.68 and a twelve month high of $176.24. The company has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.44.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 302.49% and a net margin of 3.33%. Clorox’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 248.70%.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLX. Dakota Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Clorox by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 2,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Clorox by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 306,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,185,000 after acquiring an additional 22,597 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 3.1% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $659,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in Clorox by 30.4% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 37,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,941,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Clorox by 3.5% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 47,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,620 shares during the period. 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.