Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lowered its stake in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 90,329 shares of the company’s stock after selling 840 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $9,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in Church & Dwight by 3.7% in the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Church & Dwight by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 21,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 12,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ravichandra Krishnamu Saligram sold 14,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total transaction of $1,451,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,953. This represents a 51.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carlen Hooker sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.05, for a total transaction of $294,150.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,689.10. The trade was a 91.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 109,765 shares of company stock worth $11,821,881. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $84.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.00.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 0.1%

CHD stock opened at $99.65 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $99.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.58. The stock has a market cap of $24.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $90.99 and a twelve month high of $116.46.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.02. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 20.03%. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.64%.

Church & Dwight Company Profile

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 Division (SPD), and Corporate. The Consumer Domestic segment offers household products, such as laundry detergents, fabric softener sheets, cat litter, household cleaning products, and personal care products including antiperspirants, oral care products, depilatories, reproductive health products, oral analgesics, nasal saline moisturizers, and dietary supplements.