Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Shares Sold by LaFleur & Godfrey LLC

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC trimmed its holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 88,579 shares of the company’s stock after selling 380 shares during the period. Church & Dwight makes up 1.2% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $8,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CHD. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 106,565.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,688,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682,725 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 89.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,783 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter valued at about $192,019,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,454,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,148,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,808,000 after purchasing an additional 645,291 shares in the last quarter. 86.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CHD shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Church & Dwight from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Church & Dwight from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Church & Dwight from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.80.

Church & Dwight Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CHD traded up $0.06 during trading on Thursday, reaching $104.27. The company had a trading volume of 485,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,277,519. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $100.64 and its 200 day moving average is $95.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.43 billion, a PE ratio of 34.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.53. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $82.25 and a twelve month high of $105.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.65. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.2838 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.17%.

Insider Activity at Church & Dwight

In related news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total transaction of $1,037,763.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $451,551.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Penry W. Price sold 7,752 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.29, for a total transaction of $761,944.08. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,692 shares in the company, valued at $2,525,266.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total transaction of $1,037,763.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $451,551.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 373,052 shares of company stock valued at $38,603,796 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Profile

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.