The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Plans $1.22 Quarterly Dividend

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be given a dividend of 1.22 per share on Friday, May 9th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%.

Clorox has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 47 consecutive years. Clorox has a payout ratio of 66.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Clorox to earn $7.12 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 68.5%.

Clorox Stock Performance

NYSE CLX traded up $2.33 on Tuesday, reaching $157.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,337,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,362,781. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $157.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $160.03. The company has a market cap of $19.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Clorox has a 1-year low of $127.60 and a 1-year high of $171.37.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.16. Clorox had a return on equity of 316.87% and a net margin of 6.38%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Clorox will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CLX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Clorox from $145.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Clorox in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $158.21.

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.