The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Short Interest Update

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,760,000 shares, a growth of 18.6% from the October 31st total of 3,170,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clorox

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $286,846.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,719.92. This represents a 11.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the third quarter worth $54,000. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Clorox by 32.8% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 267,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,524,000 after purchasing an additional 66,149 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the second quarter worth $876,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 140.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 74,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,335,000 after buying an additional 43,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 8.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 287,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,121,000 after buying an additional 22,676 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CLX opened at $166.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.00, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $163.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.68. Clorox has a 52-week low of $127.60 and a 52-week high of $171.35.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.08% and a net margin of 4.78%. Clorox’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Clorox will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 170.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CLX shares. Barclays raised their price target on Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas raised Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $155.00.

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.