The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Short Interest Update

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

Clorox Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CLX opened at $166.54 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $163.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $149.68. The company has a market capitalization of $20.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Clorox has a 1 year low of $127.60 and a 1 year high of $171.35.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Clorox will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 29th will be given 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 2.93%. Clorox’s payout ratio is currently 170.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CLX. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Clorox from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Clorox to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Clorox from $137.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $155.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Clorox

In other news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total transaction of $286,846.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,719.92. This represents a 11.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Clorox by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 20,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,185,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its position in Clorox by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 39,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,031,000 after buying an additional 3,740 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Clorox in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,523,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in Clorox by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 17,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,744,000 after buying an additional 653 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Clorox by 140.6% in the 1st 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

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.