California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,108,073 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,854 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $116,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter worth about $639,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Church & Dwight in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,934,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Church & Dwight by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,426,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,335,000 after buying an additional 6,425 shares in the last quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC grew its stake in Church & Dwight by 456.2% during the fourth quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 60,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,232,000 after buying an additional 49,693 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 131.0% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 3,272 shares in the last quarter. 86.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on Church & Dwight from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 11,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.98, for a total value of $1,216,378.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $707,941.26. This trade represents a 63.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total transaction of $6,322,069.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,217,442.06. This represents a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,570 shares of company stock worth $7,538,449 over the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Church & Dwight Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE CHD opened at $110.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 12 month low of $96.35 and a 12 month high of $116.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $107.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.00.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.77. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 20.03%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. This is an increase from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is 49.79%.

Church & Dwight 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.