HCR Wealth Advisors Raises Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

HCR Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,211 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 487 shares during the quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $1,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Church & Dwight by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,910,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,740,665,000 after buying an additional 145,390 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,200,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,405,000 after purchasing an additional 217,047 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 89.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,783 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,310,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $394,982,000 after purchasing an additional 29,943 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,291,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,645,000 after purchasing an additional 61,090 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CHD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $83.00 to $82.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Church & Dwight in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.56.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CHD traded up $0.05 on Friday, hitting $106.47. 770,768 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,237,942. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.25 and a 1-year high of $108.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $104.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.51.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.10. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The company had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.2838 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.87%.

Insider Activity at Church & Dwight

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ravichandra Krishnamu Saligram sold 15,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.25, for a total transaction of $1,585,284.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 33,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,455,334.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 376,972 shares of company stock valued at $39,133,366. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Company Profile

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.