D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Trims Stake in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Free Report) by 25.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 307,953 shares of the company's stock after selling 103,189 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.13% of Church & Dwight worth $32,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $639,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 6,425 shares during the period. Financial Enhancement Group LLC increased its position in Church & Dwight by 456.2% during the 4th quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 60,585 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,232,000 after purchasing an additional 49,693 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,190,154 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in Church & Dwight by 131.0% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,769 shares of the company's stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,272 shares during the period. 86.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard A. Dierker bought 7,950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $94.66 per share, for a total transaction of $752,547.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,358 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,548,448.28. This trade represents a 94.55% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 11,060 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.98, for a total transaction of $1,216,378.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $707,941.26. This represents a 63.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 80,230 shares of company stock worth $8,903,734. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CHD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced 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 research report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $109.13.

Church & Dwight Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of CHD traded down $0.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $93.43. The company had a trading volume of 2,539,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,623,356. The company's fifty day moving average price is $103.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.42. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a one year low of $90.99 and a one year high of $116.46. The company has a market capitalization of $23.01 billion, a PE ratio of 39.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.03% and a net margin of 9.58%. Church & Dwight's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. Church & Dwight's payout ratio is presently 50.64%.

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.