Freedom Day Solutions LLC Decreases Stock Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Freedom Day Solutions LLC cut its holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,544 shares of the company’s stock after selling 275 shares during the quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 4.9% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 55,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,805,000 after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 1.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 318,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,353,000 after purchasing an additional 5,528 shares during the period. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the third quarter valued at about $907,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 5.7% in the third quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 4,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the third quarter valued at about $44,630,000. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Rick Spann sold 39,520 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $4,426,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $556,976. The trade was a 88.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Read bought 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $106.82 per share, with a total value of $117,502.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,505 shares in the company, valued at $267,584.10. This represents a 78.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 57,302 shares of company stock valued at $6,362,338. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CHD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on Church & Dwight from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Church & Dwight from $99.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Church & Dwight from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.53.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

NYSE CHD opened at $104.33 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $25.66 billion, a PE ratio of 44.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.66. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.35 and a 1-year high of $113.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.03% and a net margin of 9.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

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.