Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Shares Acquired by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 51.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 52,259 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,774 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $5,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,016,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $839,472,000 after purchasing an additional 429,863 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Church & Dwight by 5.5% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,358,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $351,668,000 after buying an additional 175,221 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Church & Dwight by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,399,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,556,000 after buying an additional 16,257 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 1,617.3% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,292,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,043,000 after buying an additional 1,217,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,168,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,191,000 after acquiring an additional 159,233 shares in the last quarter. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Church & Dwight from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $101.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Church & Dwight from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $110.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.53.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

CHD stock opened at $110.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.49, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.33. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.26 and a fifty-two week high of $113.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.11. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 19.90%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.2838 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.67%.

Insider Activity at Church & Dwight

In related news, CAO Joseph James Longo sold 7,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.44, for a total transaction of $874,783.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,976. This represents a 95.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew Farrell sold 165,823 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.03, for a total transaction of $17,084,743.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 112,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,613,438.57. This trade represents a 59.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 543,513 shares of company stock valued at $56,795,253 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.