Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Upgraded at TD Cowen

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) was upgraded by research analysts at TD Cowen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $170.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $155.00. TD Cowen’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 4.39% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on CLX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Clorox from $144.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $148.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $140.00 to $139.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Clorox from $153.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Clorox from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $174.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five equities 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $155.00.

Clorox Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CLX opened at $162.85 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.08. Clorox has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $169.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $161.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.58. The company has a market cap of $20.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.74, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.41.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.50. Clorox had a net margin of 4.78% and a return on equity of 316.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Clorox will post 6.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Angela C. Hilt sold 1,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.52, for a total value of $286,846.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 13,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,719.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Clorox

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLX. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Clorox by 46,877.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $733,095,000 after buying an additional 4,490,421 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Clorox by 1,715.5% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,461,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380,724 shares during the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC grew its holdings in 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. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in Clorox by 13,547.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 440,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,063,000 after purchasing an additional 436,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Clorox by 424.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 538,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $877,390,000 after purchasing an additional 435,971 shares during 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.