Insider Selling: Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Director Sells 7,752 Shares of Stock

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Director Penry W. Price sold 7,752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.47, for a total transaction of $817,603.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,709,735.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE CHD traded up $1.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $106.78. The company had a trading volume of 189,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,285,214. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $82.25 and a fifty-two week high of $108.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $103.78 and its 200 day moving average is $97.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a $0.2838 dividend. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is currently 35.87%.

Institutional Trading of Church & Dwight

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,265,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,861,865,000 after acquiring an additional 354,946 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Church & Dwight by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,004,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $851,414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,533,877 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake 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 worth $751,405,000 after purchasing an additional 217,047 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Church & Dwight by 89.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,283,000 after buying an additional 2,839,783 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,310,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $394,982,000 after purchasing an additional 29,943 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus raised Church & Dwight from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Church & Dwight from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.56.

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.