GAMMA Investing LLC Has $94.89 Million Stock Holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Free Report) by 12,489.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 861,895 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 855,049 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC owned approximately 0.35% of Church & Dwight worth $94,886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Church & Dwight by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,691,064 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,213,661,000 after purchasing an additional 193,602 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 worth $768,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Church & Dwight by 2.6% during the 4th 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 boosted 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 acquiring an additional 20,887 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter worth $318,532,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.60% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CHD shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Church & Dwight from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen lowered Church & Dwight from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised 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 research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Church & Dwight currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Church & Dwight

In other news, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total transaction of $6,322,069.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,217,442.06. This represents a 83.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Read purchased 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $92.07 per share, with a total value of $276,210.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 5,505 shares in the company, valued at $506,845.35. This represents a 119.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 109,765 shares of company stock worth $11,821,881 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Church & Dwight Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of CHD stock traded down $0.78 on Thursday, reaching $98.85. 1,687,402 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,705,076. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.99 and a 12-month high of $116.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55. The business's 50 day moving average price is $99.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.50.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.02. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.03% and a net margin of 9.58%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. Church & Dwight's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Church & Dwight's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.