Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) Shares Gap Down to $101.59

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $101.59, but opened at $98.36. Church & Dwight shares last traded at $98.99, with a volume of 144,503 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CHD shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Church & Dwight in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.28.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $105.31 and its 200-day moving average is $103.42. The company has a market capitalization of $24.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.52.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 20.35%. Church & Dwight’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.2838 per share. This represents a $1.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.87%.

Insider Activity at Church & Dwight

In related news, Director Penry W. Price sold 7,752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.47, for a total transaction of $817,603.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,709,735.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Robert K. Shearer sold 13,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.36, for a total transaction of $1,403,952.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,095,926.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Penry W. Price sold 7,752 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.47, for a total transaction of $817,603.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,692 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,735.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 182,346 shares of company stock valued at $19,465,948. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Church & Dwight

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CHD. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter valued at about $259,967,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 9,004,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $851,414,000 after buying an additional 2,533,877 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the first quarter worth approximately $69,384,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,265,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,861,865,000 after buying an additional 354,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,334,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,233,000 after buying an additional 277,017 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Company 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.