Analysts Set Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Target Price at $102.80

Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $102.80.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CHD shares. Citigroup lowered shares of Church & Dwight from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Argus raised shares of Church & Dwight from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Church & Dwight

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 9,280 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.22, for a total transaction of $930,041.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,702.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 373,052 shares of company stock worth $38,603,796 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Church & Dwight

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,265,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,861,865,000 after buying an additional 354,946 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,004,713 shares of the company's stock worth $851,414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,533,877 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,200,426 shares of the company's stock worth $751,405,000 after purchasing an additional 217,047 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 106,565.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,688,996 shares of the company's stock worth $539,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 89.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company's stock worth $552,283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,783 shares in the last quarter. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CHD traded up $0.71 during trading on Monday, hitting $105.02. 1,504,221 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,302,212. The business's fifty day moving average is $101.03 and its 200 day moving average is $95.59. Church & Dwight has a fifty-two week low of $82.25 and a fifty-two week high of $105.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.65. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Church & Dwight will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a $0.2838 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. This is a boost from Church & Dwight's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. Church & Dwight's payout ratio is presently 37.17%.

About Church & Dwight

Church & Dwight Co, Inc develops, manufactures, and markets household, personal care, and specialty products. It operates in three segments: Consumer Domestic, Consumer International, and Specialty Products Division. The company offers cat litters, carpet deodorizers, laundry detergents, and baking soda, as well as other baking soda based products under the ARM & HAMMER brand; condoms, lubricants, and vibrators under the TROJAN brand; stain removers, cleaning solutions, laundry detergents, and bleach alternatives under the OXICLEAN brand; toothbrushes under the SPINBRUSH brand; home pregnancy and ovulation test kits under the FIRST RESPONSE brand; depilatories under the NAIR brand; oral analgesics under the ORAJEL brand; laundry detergents under the XTRA brand; gummy dietary supplements under the L'IL CRITTERS and VITAFUSION brands; dry shampoos under the BATISTE brand; water flossers and showerheads under the WATERPIK brand; cold shortening and relief products under the ZICAM brand; oral care products under the THERABREATH brand; and acne treatment products under the HERO brand.