Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) Cut to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $110.00 target price on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Argus increased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Church & Dwight in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set a neutral rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $105.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Church & Dwight in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a buy rating and a $116.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Church & Dwight has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $106.58.

Church & Dwight Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE:CHD opened at $103.26 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.08. The company has a market capitalization of $25.25 billion, a PE ratio of 32.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Church & Dwight has a 52-week low of $82.25 and a 52-week high of $110.31.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 19.86% and a net margin of 13.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.2838 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 59,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.37, for a total transaction of $5,895,423.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,179.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 59,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.37, for a total transaction of $5,895,423.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $429,179.03. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard A. Dierker sold 86,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.56, for a total value of $9,243,014.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $813,479.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 200,722 shares of company stock valued at $20,986,416. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Church & Dwight

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Texas Yale Capital Corp. grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 1.0% in the first quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 10,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Garner Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 5.1% in the first quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 2,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Elk River Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.3% in the second quarter. Elk River Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,595,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 2.4% in the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Sovereign Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.7% in the first quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

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.