The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.22

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd will be paid a dividend of 1.22 per share on Friday, May 9th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%.

Clorox has increased its dividend by an average of 1.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 47 years. Clorox has a payout ratio of 66.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Clorox stock traded down $3.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $153.49. 173,531 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,328,134. The company has a market cap of $18.91 billion, a PE ratio of 41.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $157.40 and a 200-day moving average of $160.13. Clorox has a 12 month low of $127.60 and a 12 month high of $171.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.52, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Clorox will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CLX has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Clorox from $171.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on Clorox from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Four research 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.