Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $169.21 and last traded at $169.10, with a volume of 954172 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $167.64.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on CLX shares. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. TD Cowen upgraded Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.00.

Clorox Trading Down 0.1 %

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $162.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Clorox Company will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s payout ratio is presently 170.04%.

Insider Activity

In other Clorox news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. The trade was a 11.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clorox

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Clorox by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Clorox in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $714,000. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in Clorox by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 65,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,710,000 after acquiring an additional 5,051 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 128.5% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Clorox by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,713,000 after acquiring an additional 33,970 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.