Haverford Trust Co Sells 1,319 Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Haverford Trust Co lowered its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 26.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,757 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,319 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CHD. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter worth $639,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Church & Dwight during the third quarter valued at about $5,934,000. Financial Enhancement Group LLC boosted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 456.2% during the fourth quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 60,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,232,000 after acquiring an additional 49,693 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 131.0% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,272 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter worth about $76,565,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Church & Dwight in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Church & Dwight has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.56.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CHD opened at $104.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $107.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.89. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.35 and a fifty-two week high of $116.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.77. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 20.03%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is 49.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 11,060 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.98, for a total transaction of $1,216,378.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $707,941.26. This represents a 63.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total transaction of $6,322,069.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,217,442.06. This represents a 83.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,570 shares of company stock worth $7,538,449 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.