Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,000,000 shares, an increase of 29.3% from the October 31st total of 4,640,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CHD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Church & Dwight from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $114.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Church & Dwight from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Church & Dwight news, Director Arthur B. Winkleblack sold 11,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.84, for a total value of $1,203,505.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,129 shares in the company, valued at $740,275.36. This represents a 61.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Joseph James Longo sold 7,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 400 shares in the company, valued at $44,976. The trade was a 95.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 543,513 shares of company stock worth $56,795,253 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Church & Dwight

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 57.9% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 59,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,239,000 after buying an additional 21,949 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the first quarter valued at approximately $13,345,000. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in Church & Dwight by 4.0% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 33,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Church & Dwight by 776.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 71,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,409,000 after purchasing an additional 62,918 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in Church & Dwight by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 25,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,667,000 after purchasing an additional 4,696 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Trading Down 0.2 %

CHD stock opened at $110.13 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.57. 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 has a twelve month low of $90.26 and a twelve month high of $113.50.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.11. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 19.90%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

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

Church & Dwight Company 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.