Evercore ISI Lowers Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Price Target to $142.00

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) had its price target cut by Evercore ISI from $145.00 to $142.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on CLX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $155.00 to $151.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an equal weight rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $136.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $149.38.

Clorox Price Performance

Clorox stock opened at $139.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 221.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.37, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Clorox has a 1 year low of $114.68 and a 1 year high of $178.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $149.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.10.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 1.09% and a return on equity of 319.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.51 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Clorox will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be issued a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 761.92%.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 9,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the 1st quarter valued at $1,048,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 99.8% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,136,000 after acquiring an additional 22,882 shares during the last quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the 1st quarter valued at $303,000. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the 1st quarter valued at $7,490,000. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.