Handelsbanken Fonder AB Reduces Holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,767 shares of the company’s stock after selling 74,008 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned approximately 0.06% of Church & Dwight worth $14,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CHD. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $854,000 after buying an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 33,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,172,000 after buying an additional 3,271 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 43.9% during the fourth quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 8,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 2,087.5% during the fourth quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 350 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CHD shares. TheStreet raised shares of Church & Dwight from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Church & Dwight

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total transaction of $1,037,763.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at $451,551.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Matthew Farrell sold 275,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.83, for a total value of $28,553,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 112,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,703,613.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total transaction of $1,037,763.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,551.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 373,052 shares of company stock worth $38,603,796 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE CHD opened at $106.68 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.83. The stock has a market cap of $26.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.09, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.53. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.25 and a 52 week high of $107.42.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.2838 per share. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is presently 37.17%.

Church & Dwight 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.