Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Takes Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired 15,538 shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. for approximately $1,711,000 during the 1st quarter, indicating growing institutional interest in the company.
• Recent analyst ratings for Church & Dwight show mixed sentiment, with four analysts rating it as a sell, while seven rated it a buy, resulting in a consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target of $104.38.
• Church & Dwight recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.295, yielding 1.23%, with a payout ratio of 50.64%, highlighting the company's commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,711,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,915,390 shares of the company's stock worth $617,794,000 after acquiring an additional 148,234 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,316,414 shares of the company's stock worth $451,975,000 after acquiring an additional 20,887 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,018,552 shares of the company's stock worth $316,073,000 after purchasing an additional 393,068 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,921,247 shares of the company's stock worth $305,884,000 after purchasing an additional 298,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,404,961 shares of the company's stock valued at $251,823,000 after buying an additional 124,560 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CHD shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Church & Dwight from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $114.00 in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Cowen cut shares of Church & Dwight from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Church & Dwight from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Church & Dwight from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn cut shares of Church & Dwight from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $103.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Carlen Hooker sold 11,875 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.75, for a total value of $1,172,656.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 262 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,872.50. The trade was a 97.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ravichandra Krishnamu Saligram sold 14,660 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total value of $1,451,340.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,747 shares in the company, valued at $1,360,953. This trade represents a 51.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 50,575 shares of company stock worth $4,910,586. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Church & Dwight Stock Down 2.9%

Church & Dwight stock traded down $2.68 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $91.33. The stock had a trading volume of 979,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,052,610. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.84. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.99 and a fifty-two week high of $116.46. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $97.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.49 billion, a PE ratio of 43.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.43.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.09. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 19.27% and a net margin of 8.66%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Church & Dwight's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Church & Dwight's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.64%.

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.