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

The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%.

Clorox has increased its dividend by an average of 1.9% annually over the last three years and has increased 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. 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 Up 1.5 %

Shares of CLX stock traded up $2.33 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $157.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,337,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,362,781. 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 current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $157.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $160.03. The company has a market cap of $19.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42.

Clorox (NYSE:CLX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Clorox will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Clorox from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Clorox from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Clorox from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Cowen raised Clorox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $155.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Clorox in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.21.

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.