Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Stake Lowered by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 6.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,802 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,173 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $6,363,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CHD. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $318,532,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,336,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,154 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 12,489.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 861,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,886,000 after purchasing an additional 855,049 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,565,000. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,504,000. 86.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CHD. Royal Bank of Canada raised Church & Dwight from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $100.00 to $114.00 in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Bank of America raised Church & Dwight from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $112.00 to $125.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Truist Financial set a $110.00 price objective on Church & Dwight and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. TD Cowen lowered Church & Dwight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.67.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CHD opened at $97.04 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $98.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $23.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.95, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.52. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.99 and a 1 year high of $116.46.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.03% and a net margin of 9.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is currently 50.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Church & Dwight

In other news, EVP Carlen Hooker sold 11,875 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.75, for a total transaction of $1,172,656.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,872.50. This trade represents a 97.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Penry W. Price sold 14,660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.13, for a total value of $1,365,285.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,518,514.59. This represents a 35.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 44,195 shares of company stock valued at $4,283,432. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.