Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Invests $18.90 Million in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 180,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,895,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter valued at $318,532,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,336,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $768,157,000 after buying an additional 1,190,154 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,565,000. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Church & Dwight in the 3rd quarter valued at $58,338,000. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter worth about $49,504,000. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CHD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Church & Dwight in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Church & Dwight from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.13.

Church & Dwight Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of CHD opened at $99.10 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.10. 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 firm has a market cap of $24.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.35 and a 52 week high of $116.46.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its earnings results 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 20.03% and a net margin of 9.58%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. This is an increase from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 11,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.98, for a total transaction of $1,216,378.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $707,941.26. This trade represents a 63.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total value of $6,322,069.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,217,442.06. This trade represents a 83.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,570 shares of company stock valued at $7,538,449. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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 Division (SPD), and Corporate. The Consumer Domestic segment offers household products, such as laundry detergents, fabric softener sheets, cat litter, household cleaning products, and personal care products including antiperspirants, oral care products, depilatories, reproductive health products, oral analgesics, nasal saline moisturizers, and dietary supplements.