Short Interest in The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Drops By 18.1%

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on CLX. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $159.00.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,507,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,518,517,000 after buying an additional 124,428 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Clorox by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,182,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,332,947,000 after acquiring an additional 245,525 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,098,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $501,925,000 after buying an additional 69,969 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Clorox by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,344,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,761,000 after acquiring an additional 9,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the 4th quarter valued at about $259,041,000. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Clorox Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE CLX traded down $0.14 on Wednesday, hitting $147.77. The stock had a trading volume of 812,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,277,549. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $150.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $158.74. The stock has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. 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.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 133.33%.

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.