The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.20

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 28th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of 1.20 per share on Friday, May 10th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd.

Clorox has raised its dividend by an average of 3.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 46 years. Clorox has a dividend payout ratio of 75.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Clorox to earn $6.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.8%.

Clorox Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CLX opened at $143.55 on Monday. Clorox has a 1 year low of $114.68 and a 1 year high of $178.21. The firm has a market cap of $17.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 227.86, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.43. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $149.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.94.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $1.08. Clorox had a return on equity of 319.41% and a net margin of 1.09%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the second quarter worth approximately $203,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter worth approximately $157,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Clorox by 423.0% during the fourth quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 706 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter worth approximately $88,000. 78.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Clorox from $148.00 to $136.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Clorox from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Clorox from $155.00 to $151.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $162.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.63.

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.