Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 9,206 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 51% compared to the average daily volume of 6,095 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Clorox news, Director Pierre Breber purchased 4,000 shares of Clorox stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $100.06 per share, with a total value of $400,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 22,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,201,320. This represents a 22.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Clorox

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Clorox in the second quarter valued at $958,640,000. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. purchased a new stake in Clorox during the third quarter valued at about $163,038,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Clorox during the second quarter worth about $179,780,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Clorox by 6.3% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,737,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,787,000 after acquiring an additional 102,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp increased its stake in Clorox by 34.8% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,578,983 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,913,000 after acquiring an additional 407,569 shares during the last quarter. 78.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Clorox Price Performance

NYSE:CLX opened at $107.11 on Thursday. Clorox has a 12-month low of $79.12 and a 12-month high of $128.90. The firm has a market cap of $12.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average is $88.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 32.91.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.48. Clorox had a return on equity of 608.30% and a net margin of 9.41%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Clorox will post 5.74 EPS for the current year.

Clorox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. Clorox’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CLX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore raised shares of Clorox from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $99.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, November 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Clorox in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Clorox from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on Clorox from $97.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Clorox from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Clorox presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $93.79.

Clorox Company Profile

The Clorox Company is a consumer products company founded in 1913 and headquartered in Oakland, California. It makes and markets products for household cleaning, food, water filtration, personal care and pet care. Its portfolio includes Clorox disinfecting and cleaning products, Glad trash bags and food-storage products, Kingsford charcoal, Brita water filters, Hidden Valley dressings and sauces, Burt’s Bees personal-care products, and Fresh Step cat litter. The company also sells products under brands such as Pine-Sol and Liquid-Plumr.