Royal Bank of Canada Purchases 13,963 Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 646,328 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,963 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.26% of Church & Dwight worth $67,677,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 21,272 shares of the company's stock worth $2,227,000 after acquiring an additional 2,376 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the fourth quarter valued at $2,942,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,864,115 shares of the company's stock valued at $195,191,000 after purchasing an additional 68,896 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 39,292 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,114,000 after purchasing an additional 7,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the fourth quarter valued at $379,000. 86.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Church & Dwight Trading Up 0.8%

CHD traded up $0.79 during trading on Friday, hitting $96.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,816,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,660,564. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $90.99 and a twelve month high of $116.46. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $101.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.04. The stock has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a PE ratio of 40.51, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 20.03%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Church & Dwight's payout ratio is 50.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CHD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their target price 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. Oppenheimer cut their target price 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. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $84.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total transaction of $6,322,069.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,217,442.06. The trade was a 83.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Read bought 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $92.07 per share, with a total value of $276,210.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 5,505 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $506,845.35. The trade was a 119.76% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 80,230 shares of company stock worth $8,903,734. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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.