The Clorox dividend pays the highest yield of the four: 5.64% at the October 22, 2026 close, against 4.56% for Kimberly-Clark ($KMB), 2.63% for Procter & Gamble ($PG) and 2.18% for Colgate-Palmolive ($CL). Colgate's payout has the most cash behind it. It paid out 47% of trailing free cash flow, with P&G next at 67%. Clorox ($CLX) paid 149% of its fiscal 2026 free cash flow. Excluding a one-time $476 million payment, that falls to 68%.
So the high yield is not a free lunch. The market is pricing $CLX as a slow-growth payer with a new pile of debt. Free cash flow (FCF) here is operating cash flow minus capital expenditures, measured over each company's last four reported quarters. More results coverage is on the Traders On Trend homepage and in its Earnings section.
Yield and dividend growth at the October 22, 2026 close
The indicated yield is the latest quarterly dividend times four, divided by the October 22, 2026 closing price. Growth compares the latest quarterly rate with the rate paid one, three and five years earlier in the payment history. The 3- and 5-year figures are compound annual rates.
| Company | Close, Oct 22, 2026 | Latest quarterly dividend | Indicated yield | 1-yr growth | 3-yr CAGR | 5-yr CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clorox ($CLX) | $88.66 | $1.25 | 5.64% | 0.8% | 1.4% | 1.5% |
| Procter & Gamble ($PG) | $165.59 | $1.0885 | 2.63% | 3.0% | 5.0% | 4.6% |
| Kimberly-Clark ($KMB) | $112.32 | $1.28 | 4.56% | 1.6% | 2.7% | 2.3% |
| Colgate-Palmolive ($CL) | $97.39 | $0.53 | 2.18% | 1.9% | 3.4% | 3.3% |
Clorox's quarterly rate has gone from $1.16 to $1.25 in five years. The latest step was a single cent, from $1.24 to $1.25. P&G has compounded at roughly three times that pace. Its yield is about half of Clorox's, but its payout grows faster.
A year ago, at the October 22, 2025 close of $118.18, Clorox's $4.96 annual rate yielded 4.2%. The dividend has barely moved since then; the stock has fallen. Almost all of the jump to 5.64% came from the share price.
Payout coverage: earnings versus cash
Coverage is measured two ways over the last four reported quarters: dividends per share against GAAP diluted EPS, and cash dividends paid against free cash flow. For $PG that window ends September 30, 2026. For $KMB and $CL it ends June 30, 2026, and for $CLX it is fiscal 2026, which ended June 30, 2026.
| Company | Dividend / GAAP EPS | Dividends paid / FCF | Net debt / EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|
| $CLX | 103% ($4.96 / $4.81) | 149% ($602M / $405M); 68% excluding Glad payment | 4.2x |
| $PG | 65% ($4.29 / $6.64) | 67% ($10.29B / $15.34B) | 1.0x |
| $KMB | 86% ($5.08 / $5.88) | 92% ($1.68B / $1.82B) | 1.7x (before Kenvue) |
| $CL | 83% ($2.10 / $2.52); 60% excluding impairment | 47% ($1.82B / $3.86B) | 1.7x; 1.4x excluding impairment |
Colgate wins the cash test easily. Its trailing operating cash flow was $4.46 billion against $598 million of capex, so the dividend took less than half of FCF. Its GAAP earnings payout looks stretched only because of a one-off. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Colgate took a non-cash, after-tax charge of $794 million ($919 million pre-tax) on goodwill and intangibles in its skin health business, per its January 30, 2026 results release. Without the $0.99 per share charge, the earnings payout is about 60%.
P&G is the steady one: about two-thirds of both earnings and cash. Its fiscal 2027 first-quarter release, issued October 22, 2026, shows $2.6 billion of dividends paid in the quarter. The company says it expects to pay over $10 billion in dividends in fiscal 2027.
Kimberly-Clark is the thinnest of the three peers on cash, at 92% of FCF. Its GAAP EPS also includes income from the international family care and professional (IFP) business that it reports as discontinued operations.
The Clorox cash story: one payment, two very different ratios
Clorox's fiscal 2026 operating cash flow was $612 million, down from $981 million a year earlier. The company said the drop was driven mainly by the Glad venture termination payment. Clorox bought P&G's 20% interest in the Glad bags and wraps business for $476 million in cash, paid on March 2, 2026. That cash went out through operating activities in the March quarter, when Clorox's operating cash flow was negative $122 million.
Clorox's fiscal 2026 supplemental schedule adds the payment back. On that basis adjusted free cash flow was $881 million, up from $761 million in fiscal 2025. Against $602 million of dividends, the payout falls from 149% to 68%. The GAAP figure is the cash that actually left; the adjusted one is closer to a normal year. In fiscal 2025, with no special payment, the dividend took 79% of FCF.
The earnings picture is tighter. Fiscal 2026 diluted EPS was $4.81, below the $4.96 per share Clorox paid. Clorox attributes about 90 cents of the hit to retailers drawing down inventory after its ERP system switch, and another 36 cents to GOJO acquisition and integration costs. For fiscal 2027, management guides to diluted EPS of $5.41 to $5.71 and adjusted EPS of $5.70 to $6.00. At the $5.00 indicated rate, the dividend would be about 90% of the GAAP guidance midpoint and about 85% of the adjusted midpoint. That leaves little room for growth.
Balance sheets: Clorox's debt doubled with the Purell deal
Leverage here is net debt divided by trailing EBITDA. Net debt is short-term borrowings plus long-term debt, minus cash, excluding lease liabilities. EBITDA is GAAP pre-tax income plus interest expense plus depreciation and amortization over the last four reported quarters. One-off charges are left in unless noted.
- $CLX: 4.2x. On January 22, 2026, Clorox announced a deal to buy GOJO Industries, maker of Purell, for $2.25 billion in cash and said it would fund the purchase mainly with debt. The deal closed April 1, 2026. Total debt reached $5.07 billion at June 30, 2026, up from $2.49 billion a year earlier. Cash was $143 million, leaving net debt of $4.93 billion against $1.17 billion of fiscal 2026 EBITDA. GOJO contributed only one quarter of that EBITDA, so the ratio overstates leverage on a full-year basis. The filings used here give no pro forma figure.
- $PG: 1.0x. Net debt was $23.6 billion at September 30, 2026, against about $24.5 billion of trailing EBITDA. P&G says it acquired Thorne as of October 1, 2026, after that balance sheet date.
- $KMB: 1.7x, before Kenvue. Net debt was $5.56 billion at June 30, 2026. Kimberly-Clark signed a merger agreement with Kenvue on November 2, 2025, and expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. On October 19, 2026 it priced $4.9 billion of senior notes to help fund the cash part of the deal, according to its 8-K. Separately, it is offering up to $7.0 billion of new Kimberly-Clark notes, plus cash, in exchange for Kenvue's outstanding notes. The June balance sheet does not reflect any of this, so a combined leverage figure is not meaningful yet.
- $CL: 1.7x. Net debt was $6.49 billion at June 30, 2026. Adding back the $919 million impairment lowers the ratio to 1.4x.
Kimberly-Clark's September-quarter GAAP numbers are also distorted. Its preliminary figures for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 show diluted EPS of $5.37. That includes a $4.33 per share gain from completing the IFP transaction; adjusted EPS was $1.70. A trailing GAAP payout ratio that includes that quarter is not meaningful.
Price trend: Clorox is the laggard of the group
| Ticker | Close, Oct 22, 2026 | 50-day avg | 200-day avg | 1-yr price change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $CLX | $88.66 | $90.87 | $100.35 | -25.0% |
| $PG | $165.59 | $148.03 | $148.40 | +8.8% |
| $KMB | $112.32 | $102.82 | $102.67 | -6.6% |
| $CL | $97.39 | $89.31 | $89.33 | +22.0% |
| $SPY | $763.96 | $768.17 | $726.65 | +14.4% |
| $XLP | $89.99 | $84.33 | $84.21 | +12.9% |
The averages are simple averages of daily closes through October 22, 2026. The 1-year change is measured from the October 22, 2025 close and excludes dividends. $CLX is the only name of the four still below both its 50-day and 200-day averages, and its 50-day sits about $9.50 under its 200-day. The other three closed above both averages. On October 22, 2026, the day P&G reported, all four rose between 4.3% and 5.6% while $SPY fell 1.2%. The broader staples backdrop is covered in General Mills' caution on US consumer staples and Kimberly-Clark's weekly rebound.
What the yield is pricing in
A rough yardstick is yield plus 5-year dividend growth. The sum comes to 7.1% for $CLX, 7.2% for $PG and 6.9% for $KMB, but only 5.5% for $CL. In other words, Clorox's extra yield roughly makes up for its slower dividend growth; it is not a discount on top of that. Valuation tells the same story. Using FMP's consensus EPS for the current fiscal year, $CLX trades at 15.6x and $KMB at 15.2x, against 23.8x for $PG and 25.2x for $CL. The market is pricing Clorox for slow growth, extra debt and a payout that uses nearly all of its earnings. On this yardstick, the yield looks more like payment for slow growth than a bet on a cut.
Bull/Bear Verdict
Bull Case: Excluding the one-time $476 million Glad payment, Clorox's fiscal 2026 free cash flow covered the dividend with a 68% payout. The company says fiscal 2027 laps the ERP inventory drawdown, management's fiscal 2027 EPS guidance covers the $5.00 rate, and Purell adds a full year of sales. A 5.64% yield on the October 22, 2026 close pays holders while that plays out.
Bear Case: On GAAP numbers, Clorox paid more than it earned and more than it generated in cash in fiscal 2026. Leverage is 4.2x after debt doubled, the last raise was one cent, and the stock is down 25% in a year and below both its 50-day and 200-day averages. P&G and Colgate cover their dividends with far more room to spare.
FAQ
Is the Clorox dividend covered by free cash flow?
Not on a GAAP basis in fiscal 2026. Dividends of $602 million exceeded free cash flow of $405 million (operating cash flow of $612 million minus $207 million of capex). Excluding the one-time $476 million Glad payment, adjusted free cash flow was $881 million, a 68% payout.
Why did Clorox's cash flow fall in fiscal 2026?
Clorox said the main cause was the Glad venture termination payment. It paid P&G $476 million on March 2, 2026 for P&G's 20% interest in the Glad business, and that payment ran through operating cash flow.
When is the next Clorox dividend?
FMP's dividend history lists a $1.25 quarterly dividend declared September 23, 2026, with an ex-dividend date of October 28, 2026 and a payment date of November 13, 2026.