The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Short Interest Update

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,360,000 shares, a decline of 10.6% from the November 15th total of 3,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,150,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clorox

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Clorox during the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 32.8% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 267,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,524,000 after purchasing an additional 66,149 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Clorox by 8.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 287,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,121,000 after acquiring an additional 22,676 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 191,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,266,000 after purchasing an additional 10,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 371.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 96,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,233,000 after buying an additional 76,397 shares in the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Clorox Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of CLX traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $163.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,095,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,229,642. The company has a 50 day moving average of $163.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $152.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08. The firm has a market cap of $20.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. Clorox has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Clorox will post 6.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 170.03%.

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.