The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $125.00.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CLX. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Clorox from $125.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Clorox from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $152.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Clorox from $112.00 to $108.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th.

Clorox Stock Performance

Shares of CLX stock opened at $101.44 on Thursday. Clorox has a 12-month low of $98.20 and a 12-month high of $165.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $108.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 18.01. The company has a market cap of $12.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.57.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.07. Clorox had a return on equity of 358.39% and a net margin of 11.68%.The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. Clorox has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.950-6.300 EPS. Analysts expect that Clorox will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be given a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 77.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pierre R. Breber acquired 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $104.13 per share, with a total value of $416,520.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,690. This trade represents a 44.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clorox

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Clorox by 138.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,245,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,648,000 after buying an additional 1,883,465 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Clorox during the 2nd quarter worth about $190,429,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 93.9% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,709,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,139,000 after buying an additional 1,312,471 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Clorox by 218.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,249,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,983,000 after buying an additional 856,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the second quarter worth about $71,856,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.53% 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.