Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $106.58.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Church & Dwight from $116.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on Church & Dwight from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. HSBC raised their price objective on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Church & Dwight from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th.

Insider Activity at Church & Dwight

In other Church & Dwight news, Director Ravichandra Krishnamu Saligram sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.67, for a total value of $2,153,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,793 shares in the company, valued at $1,485,092.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Church & Dwight news, CFO Richard A. Dierker sold 86,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.56, for a total value of $9,243,014.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,634 shares in the company, valued at $813,479.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ravichandra Krishnamu Saligram sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.67, for a total transaction of $2,153,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,793 shares in the company, valued at $1,485,092.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 220,722 shares of company stock worth $23,139,816 over the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Church & Dwight

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Church & Dwight by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,265,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,861,865,000 after buying an additional 354,946 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Church & Dwight by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,097,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $948,968,000 after acquiring an additional 92,862 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Church & Dwight by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,586,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,566,000 after acquiring an additional 153,127 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter valued at about $259,967,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Church & Dwight by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,783,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,028,000 after acquiring an additional 31,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Church & Dwight stock opened at $101.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $24.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $102.55 and a 200-day moving average of $103.67. Church & Dwight has a 52 week low of $82.25 and a 52 week high of $110.31.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Church & Dwight will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.2838 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.87%.

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.