DA Davidson Reaffirms Neutral Rating for Clorox (NYSE:CLX)

Clorox (NYSE:CLX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at DA Davidson in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $162.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson’s target price indicates a potential upside of 14.03% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on CLX. UBS Group boosted their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Clorox from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Clorox from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $160.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Clorox currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.63.

Clorox Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:CLX traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $142.07. The company had a trading volume of 424,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,203,711. Clorox has a fifty-two week low of $114.68 and a fifty-two week high of $178.21. The business’s fifty day moving average is $150.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.37, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $17.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 225.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.43.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $1.08. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 319.41% and a net margin of 1.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Clorox will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Clorox by 17,658.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 484,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,078,000 after acquiring an additional 481,725 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in Clorox during the third quarter valued at $6,605,000. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC bought a new stake in Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at $2,940,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Clorox by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Clorox by 742.8% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 78,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,316,000 after buying an additional 69,373 shares during the period. 78.53% of the stock is owned by 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.