Hartford Investment Management Co. Cuts Stake in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Hartford Investment Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,144 shares of the company’s stock after selling 293 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $1,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the 3rd quarter valued at $104,795,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Church & Dwight by 8.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,116,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,373,542,000 after buying an additional 969,006 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight during the third quarter valued at about $58,338,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 63.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,106,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,832,000 after buying an additional 431,257 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,016,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $839,472,000 after acquiring an additional 429,863 shares during the last quarter. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Church & Dwight in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $99.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Church & Dwight currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.53.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 1.5 %

CHD stock opened at $107.58 on Friday. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.09 and a fifty-two week high of $113.50. The company has a market capitalization of $26.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $105.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, 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 will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.68%.

Insider Activity at Church & Dwight

In related news, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 45,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.19, for a total transaction of $5,062,012.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,158,361.75. This trade represents a 81.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Read bought 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $106.82 per share, for a total transaction of $117,502.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,584.10. This represents a 78.29 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,422 shares of company stock valued at $11,424,351 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Company Profile

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.