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

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $109.69.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CHD shares. Cowen downgraded Church & Dwight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on Church & Dwight from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:CHD opened at $99.07 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $99.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $24.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.52. Church & Dwight has a 52-week low of $90.99 and a 52-week high of $116.46.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.03% and a net margin of 9.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total transaction of $6,322,069.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,217,442.06. This represents a 83.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Carlen Hooker sold 11,875 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.75, for a total value of $1,172,656.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,872.50. This trade represents a 97.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 109,765 shares of company stock worth $11,821,881. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Church & Dwight

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Church & Dwight by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,441,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,461,410,000 after purchasing an additional 750,575 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,336,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190,154 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,915,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $617,794,000 after acquiring an additional 148,234 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,316,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $451,975,000 after acquiring an additional 20,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,097,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,028,000 after acquiring an additional 79,170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

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.