Amundi Raises Stock Holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,833,603 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 220,829 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $188,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CHD. State Street Corp grew its position in Church & Dwight by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,116,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,373,542,000 after purchasing an additional 969,006 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 5.7% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,016,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $839,472,000 after buying an additional 429,863 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Church & Dwight by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,295,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $449,830,000 after acquiring an additional 21,607 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Church & Dwight by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,448,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,681,000 after acquiring an additional 49,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in Church & Dwight by 63.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,106,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,832,000 after acquiring an additional 431,257 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Church & Dwight

In other news, EVP Michael Read bought 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $106.82 per share, for a total transaction of $117,502.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 2,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $267,584.10. This trade represents a 78.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ravichandra Krishnamu Saligram sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total transaction of $1,061,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 32,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,448,575. This trade represents a 23.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,002 shares of company stock valued at $1,061,315 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CHD. Barclays boosted their target price on Church & Dwight from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Church & Dwight presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.56.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of CHD stock opened at $112.48 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $106.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.40. 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 stock has a market cap of $27.67 billion, a PE ratio of 47.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.35 and a 1 year high of $114.60.

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

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.295 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.