Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Clorox (NYSE:CLX) to Equal Weight

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $157.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 0.47% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Barclays increased their price target on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.46.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX opened at $157.74 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.17. Clorox has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its 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 return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CLX. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Clorox by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 9,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,623,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division increased its holdings in Clorox by 40.2% during the 4th quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 785 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Clorox by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 45.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 6.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,641,000 after buying an additional 9,720 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.