Bank of New York Mellon Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,516,122 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,118 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $158,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CHD. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Church & Dwight in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Church & Dwight in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Church & Dwight by 224.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 266 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Church & Dwight in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Church & Dwight from $114.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Church & Dwight in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Rick Spann sold 39,520 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $4,426,240.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $556,976. This represents a 88.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $1,061,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 32,500 shares in the company, valued at $3,448,575. This represents a 23.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,522 shares of company stock worth $5,487,555. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 1.8 %

Church & Dwight stock opened at $111.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.59. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.35 and a 52 week high of $113.50. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $105.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 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 last year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. This is an increase from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

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.