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

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 30th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of 1.22 per share on Friday, August 30th. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. This is a boost from Clorox’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.20.

Clorox has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 46 years. Clorox has a payout ratio of 74.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Clorox to earn $6.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.0%.

Clorox Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of CLX traded down $2.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $131.73. The stock had a trading volume of 1,515,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,236,892. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.60. Clorox has a 12 month low of $114.68 and a 12 month high of $169.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.73. The company has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.38. Clorox had a net margin of 3.33% and a return on equity of 302.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Clorox will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CLX. Argus upgraded Clorox to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Clorox in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $130.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $162.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Clorox in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $122.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Clorox from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $142.13.

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.