The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) to Issue $1.20 Quarterly Dividend

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 14th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 24th will be given a dividend of 1.20 per share on Friday, February 9th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%.

Clorox has increased its dividend by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 46 years. Clorox has a payout ratio of 104.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Clorox to earn $5.86 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 81.9%.

Clorox Price Performance

CLX stock opened at $138.01 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.12 billion, a PE ratio of 202.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.35. Clorox has a one year low of $114.68 and a one year high of $178.21. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $130.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $148.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 18.92, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 1st. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by $0.69. The business had revenue of $1.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Clorox had a return on equity of 195.76% and a net margin of 1.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Clorox by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 93,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,215,000 after buying an additional 2,478 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Clorox by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 173,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,781,000 after buying an additional 18,352 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in Clorox by 110.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 24,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,954,000 after buying an additional 13,026 shares during the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 7.4% during the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Clorox by 2.5% during the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 367,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,402,000 after buying an additional 8,885 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CLX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James cut Clorox from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 5th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Clorox in a research report on Monday. They set an “underperform” rating and a $117.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group upgraded Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $124.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Monday, November 6th. DA Davidson raised shares of Clorox from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $152.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.47.

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.