GAM Holding AG Buys Shares of 11,348 Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

GAM Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 11,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,249,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 92.9% during the first quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 270 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 42.1% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 378 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the first quarter worth approximately $61,000. 86.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Penry W. Price sold 14,660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.13, for a total transaction of $1,365,285.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,518,514.59. The trade was a 35.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Carlen Hooker sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.05, for a total transaction of $294,150.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 262 shares in the company, valued at $25,689.10. The trade was a 91.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,575 shares of company stock worth $4,910,586 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

NYSE:CHD opened at $96.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.46. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $90.99 and a twelve month high of $116.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.52% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $84.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of 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, Cowen downgraded shares of Church & Dwight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.67.

About Church & Dwight

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.