Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a sell rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CHD. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, February 6th. Atlantic Securities upgraded shares of Church & Dwight from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Church & Dwight in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $87.81.

Church & Dwight Price Performance

Church & Dwight stock opened at $85.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $20.86 billion, a PE ratio of 50.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.45. Church & Dwight has a 52-week low of $70.16 and a 52-week high of $105.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company’s 50 day moving average is $83.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.39.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 7.70% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Church & Dwight will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th were given a dividend of $0.2725 per share. This is an increase from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Penry W. Price sold 17,544 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.90, for a total value of $1,471,941.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,039,692.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Paul Richard Wood sold 48,262 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.37, for a total value of $4,023,602.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,004.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Penry W. Price sold 17,544 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.90, for a total transaction of $1,471,941.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,039,692.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 83,350 shares of company stock valued at $6,969,241. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Church & Dwight

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 1.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,027,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,073,719,000 after purchasing an additional 317,813 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,211,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $872,420,000 after purchasing an additional 84,323 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 106,565.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,688,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682,725 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 3.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,645,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,725,000 after purchasing an additional 231,649 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,206,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $419,689,000 after purchasing an additional 805,508 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.86% of the company’s stock.

About Church & Dwight

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Church & Dwight Co, Inc engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of household, personal care, and specialty products. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Domestic, Consumer International, Specialty Products, and Corporate. The Consumer Domestic segment offers household products, such as laundry detergents, fabric softener sheets, cat litter, and household cleaning products, and personal care products including antiperspirants, oral care products, depilatories, reproductive health products, oral analgesics, nasal saline moisturizers, and dietary supplements.