Searle & CO. Makes New $1.10 Million Investment in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Searle & CO. purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 11,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,099,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 0.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,910,126 shares of the company's stock worth $2,740,665,000 after purchasing an additional 145,390 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 2.7% during the third 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 89.1% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 0.7% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,310,580 shares of the company's stock worth $394,982,000 after purchasing an additional 29,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 1.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,291,982 shares of the company's stock worth $301,645,000 after purchasing an additional 61,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CHD shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Church & Dwight from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Church & Dwight from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Church & Dwight from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Argus upgraded Church & Dwight from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Church & Dwight from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Church & Dwight has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $104.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total value of $1,037,763.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $451,551.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 373,052 shares of company stock valued at $38,603,796 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CHD traded down $1.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $106.24. 1,977,895 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,290,351. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $103.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.59. The company has a market cap of $25.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.95, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.53. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.25 and a 52 week high of $108.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 12.88%. Church & Dwight's revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.2838 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Church & Dwight's payout ratio is currently 37.17%.

Church & Dwight Profile

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.