Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.30

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.295 per share on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

Church & Dwight has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Church & Dwight has a dividend payout ratio of 28.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Church & Dwight to earn $3.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.6%.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CHD opened at $107.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $26.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.58. Church & Dwight has a 52 week low of $96.09 and a 52 week high of $113.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $106.54 and a 200 day moving average of $104.16.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.77. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 19.90% and a net margin of 9.08%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Church & Dwight will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CHD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Church & Dwight from $99.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $114.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Church & Dwight from $105.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Michael Read bought 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $106.82 per share, for a total transaction of $117,502.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $267,584.10. The trade was a 78.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Matthew Farrell sold 165,823 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.03, for a total transaction of $17,084,743.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 112,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,613,438.57. The trade was a 59.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 593,035 shares of company stock worth $62,282,808 in the last 90 days. Corporate 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, and Corporate. The Consumer Domestic segment offers household products, such as laundry detergents, fabric softener sheets, cat litter, and household cleaning products, and personal care products including antiperspirants, oral care products, depilatories, reproductive health products, oral analgesics, nasal saline moisturizers, and dietary supplements.