Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Reduces Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Key Points

• Ramirez Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Church & Dwight by 64.6% in the first quarter, resulting in ownership of only 2,976 shares worth approximately $328,000.
• In contrast, IAG Wealth Partners LLC significantly increased its stake by 92.9%, owning 270 shares valued at $30,000 after buying 130 additional shares.
• Church & Dwight reported earnings per share of $0.91 for the last quarter, slightly surpassing analysts' expectations, yet its revenue declined by 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Free Report) by 64.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,976 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,420 shares during the period. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CHD. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 12,489.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 861,895 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,886,000 after buying an additional 855,049 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,504,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,018,552 shares of the company's stock valued at $316,073,000 after buying an additional 393,068 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,743,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,493,000. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ravichandra Krishnamu Saligram sold 14,660 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.00, for a total transaction of $1,451,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 13,747 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,360,953. This represents a 51.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard A. Dierker bought 7,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $94.66 per share, with a total value of $752,547.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 16,358 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,548,448.28. This represents a 94.55% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,575 shares of company stock worth $4,910,586 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CHD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $102.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Cowen cut shares of Church & Dwight from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Redburn Partners set a $83.00 target price on shares of Church & Dwight in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $84.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.38.

Church & Dwight Price Performance

NYSE CHD traded up $0.10 on Friday, hitting $93.87. The company had a trading volume of 2,629,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,045,387. The company has a market capitalization of $23.12 billion, a PE ratio of 40.30, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.51. The company's fifty day moving average price is $97.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.82. 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 Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.99 and a 12-month high of $116.46.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.52% and a return on equity of 19.28%. The firm's revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Church & Dwight's payout ratio is presently 50.64%.

Church & Dwight 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.