Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $108.29.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CHD. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $102.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Church & Dwight from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $114.00 in a report on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Church & Dwight from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $112.00 to $125.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of CHD opened at $96.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Church & Dwight has a one year low of $90.99 and a one year high of $116.46. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 41.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.52.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.02. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.52% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. Church & Dwight's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Church & Dwight's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael Read bought 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $92.07 per share, with a total value of $276,210.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 5,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $506,845.35. This represents a 119.76% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Richard A. Dierker bought 7,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $94.66 per share, with a total value of $752,547.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,358 shares in the company, valued at $1,548,448.28. This trade represents a 94.55% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,575 shares of company stock valued at $4,910,586. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 89.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 53,164 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,567,000 after buying an additional 25,080 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.5% during the 4th 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,336,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $768,157,000 after buying an additional 1,190,154 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,565,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 184,133 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,281,000 after buying an additional 21,742 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.