Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Price Target Raised to $171.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) had its price target upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $167.00 to $171.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on CLX. StockNews.com cut Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 5th. TD Cowen upgraded Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Clorox from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $157.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.23.

Clorox Trading Up 1.4 %

Clorox stock opened at $160.50 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $164.40 and a 200-day moving average of $156.17. Clorox has a one year low of $127.60 and a one year high of $171.37. 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 company has a market cap of $19.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.42.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. Clorox’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Clorox will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Clorox’s payout ratio is presently 170.03%.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CLX. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Clorox in the third quarter worth $54,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 8.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 287,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,121,000 after purchasing an additional 22,676 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 5.6% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 191,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,266,000 after purchasing an additional 10,149 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 60.5% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 23,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,244,000 after purchasing an additional 8,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Clorox by 1.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 353,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,228,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

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.