Vest Financial LLC Reduces Stock Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Vest Financial LLC cut its stake in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Free Report) by 6.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 515,985 shares of the company's stock after selling 37,051 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC owned about 0.21% of Church & Dwight worth $56,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,691,064 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,213,661,000 after acquiring an additional 193,602 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,336,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $768,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,915,390 shares of the company's stock valued at $617,794,000 after acquiring an additional 148,234 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,316,414 shares of the company's stock valued at $451,975,000 after acquiring an additional 20,887 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter valued at $318,532,000. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Church & Dwight news, CEO Richard A. Dierker purchased 7,950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $94.66 per share, for a total transaction of $752,547.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,548,448.28. This trade represents a 94.55% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carlen Hooker sold 3,000 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.05, for a total value of $294,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 262 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,689.10. This represents a 91.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,765 shares of company stock valued at $11,821,881 in the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

CHD traded up $0.08 on Friday, reaching $99.07. 1,544,973 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,708,092. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.40 billion, a PE ratio of 41.80, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.52. The company's 50-day moving average price is $99.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.42. 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 Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.99 and a fifty-two week high of $116.46.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.03% and a net margin of 9.58%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Church & Dwight's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen downgraded Church & Dwight from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $102.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Church & Dwight from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Church & Dwight from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $109.69.

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.