Northcape Capital Pty Ltd Buys 1,134 Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Northcape Capital Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 23.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,980 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,134 shares during the period. Church & Dwight makes up approximately 0.1% of Northcape Capital Pty Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CHD. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 106,565.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,688,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,200,000 after buying an additional 6,682,725 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 89.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,283,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839,783 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the fourth quarter worth about $192,019,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 9.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,454,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Church & Dwight by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,148,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,808,000 after purchasing an additional 645,291 shares during the period. 86.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total value of $1,037,763.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $451,551.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 373,052 shares of company stock valued at $38,603,796. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Church & Dwight Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:CHD traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $104.18. 356,820 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,275,862. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $100.64 and its 200-day moving average is $95.41. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $82.25 and a 12-month high of $105.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.65. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were given a dividend of $0.2838 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is 37.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CHD shares. TheStreet raised shares of Church & Dwight from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Argus raised shares of Church & Dwight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Church & Dwight in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upgraded Church & Dwight from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Church & Dwight from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.80.

About Church & Dwight

Church & Dwight Co, Inc develops, manufactures, and markets household, personal care, and specialty products. It operates in three segments: Consumer Domestic, Consumer International, and Specialty Products Division. The company offers cat litters, carpet deodorizers, laundry detergents, and baking soda, as well as other baking soda based products under the ARM & HAMMER brand; condoms, lubricants, and vibrators under the TROJAN brand; stain removers, cleaning solutions, laundry detergents, and bleach alternatives under the OXICLEAN brand; toothbrushes under the SPINBRUSH brand; home pregnancy and ovulation test kits under the FIRST RESPONSE brand; depilatories under the NAIR brand; oral analgesics under the ORAJEL brand; laundry detergents under the XTRA brand; gummy dietary supplements under the L'IL CRITTERS and VITAFUSION brands; dry shampoos under the BATISTE brand; water flossers and showerheads under the WATERPIK brand; cold shortening and relief products under the ZICAM brand; oral care products under the THERABREATH brand; and acne treatment products under the HERO brand.