Investors Purchase High Volume of Clorox Call Options (NYSE:CLX)

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 31,674 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 773% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,627 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clorox

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Clorox by 1,715.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,461,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $199,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,380,724 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at about $144,844,000. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Clorox by 150.6% in the second quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,597,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,035,000 after purchasing an additional 960,094 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Clorox in the fourth quarter worth about $128,382,000. Finally, Parsifal Capital Management LP bought a new position in Clorox during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $128,245,000. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE:CLX opened at $143.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $135.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.39. Clorox has a 12-month low of $114.68 and a 12-month high of $162.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73.

Clorox Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This is a positive change from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 13th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 252.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CLX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Clorox from $145.00 to $142.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Clorox in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $130.00 price target for the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Clorox from $122.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and thirteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.94.

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.