Millennium Management LLC Buys 1,217,568 Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 1,617.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,292,854 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,217,568 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $134,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CHD. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 891 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Church & Dwight by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 149,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,124,000 after acquiring an additional 16,169 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Church & Dwight by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 174,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,482,000 after acquiring an additional 4,624 shares during the last quarter. Qtron Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter worth approximately $316,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 296,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,036,000 after acquiring an additional 70,803 shares during the last quarter. 86.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Church & Dwight from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 9th. Argus boosted their price objective on Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $116.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.25.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE CHD opened at $104.33 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $102.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.54. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $82.25 and a 52-week high of $110.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 19.86% and a net margin of 13.38%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.2838 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.87%.

Insider Activity at Church & Dwight

In related news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 59,328 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $429,179.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.