The Clorox Company Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.22 (NYSE:CLX)

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 17th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be given a dividend of 1.22 per share on Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 23rd.

Clorox has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 47 years. Clorox has a payout ratio of 73.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Clorox to earn $7.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 69.4%.

Clorox Trading Down 1.0 %

CLX opened at $160.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $19.91 billion, a PE ratio of 83.08, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $159.65 and a 200-day moving average of $145.24. Clorox has a 52 week low of $114.68 and a 52 week high of $169.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CLX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. BNP Paribas upgraded Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $153.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of Clorox stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

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.