Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Acquires New Shares in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 9,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CHD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,691,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,213,661,000 after acquiring an additional 193,602 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,116,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,373,542,000 after purchasing an additional 969,006 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,190,154 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Church & Dwight by 0.5% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,295,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $449,830,000 after purchasing an additional 21,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $318,532,000. 86.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Church & Dwight

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on CHD shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Church & Dwight from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Church & Dwight in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two research 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.81.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 2.1 %

CHD opened at $108.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $107.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.91. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.35 and a fifty-two week high of $116.46.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.77. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 20.03%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.79%.

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.