Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. UBS Group cut their price target on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Cowen lowered shares of Church & Dwight from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America raised shares of Church & Dwight from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $112.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Church & Dwight from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $114.00 in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $108.67.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

CHD traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $96.08. The company had a trading volume of 1,843,018 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,755,931. The business has a 50-day moving average of $97.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.34. 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 has a 1 year low of $90.99 and a 1 year high of $116.46. The company has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Penry W. Price sold 14,660 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.13, for a total value of $1,365,285.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,518,514.59. This trade represents a 35.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Read bought 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $92.07 per share, for a total transaction of $276,210.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,505 shares in the company, valued at $506,845.35. The trade was a 119.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 50,575 shares of company stock worth $4,910,586 in the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Church & Dwight

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CHD. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,441,639 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,461,410,000 after purchasing an additional 750,575 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Church & Dwight by 19.4% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Church & Dwight by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,915,390 shares of the company's stock worth $617,794,000 after buying an additional 148,234 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Church & Dwight by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,316,414 shares of the company's stock worth $451,975,000 after buying an additional 20,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 2.6% during 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 during the period. 86.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.