Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Given New $173.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) had its target price raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $171.00 to $173.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CLX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Clorox from $139.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $158.21.

Clorox Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CLX stock opened at $147.55 on Tuesday. Clorox has a 12-month low of $127.60 and a 12-month high of $171.37. The company has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $161.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $158.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Clorox will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Clorox Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 29th. Clorox’s payout ratio is 133.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Clorox during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 5.6% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 191,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,266,000 after buying an additional 10,149 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Clorox by 43.4% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,865,000 after buying an additional 9,037 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Clorox by 8.3% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 63,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,341,000 after buying an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Clorox by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 723,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,932,000 after buying an additional 13,038 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.53% of the company’s stock.

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.