The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Short Interest Update

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,540,000 shares, a decline of 18.1% from the February 28th total of 4,320,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CLX. Barclays dropped their target price on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $161.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $159.00.

Clorox Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CLX traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $147.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 812,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,277,549. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Clorox has a 52 week low of $127.60 and a 52 week high of $171.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $150.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 40.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 23rd. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in Clorox by 26.3% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 59,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,736,000 after buying an additional 12,428 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Clorox during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 119.6% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Clorox in the fourth quarter worth $1,566,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Clorox by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,028,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,713,000 after purchasing an additional 33,970 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.