Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Shares Bought by LGT Capital Partners LTD.

LGT Capital Partners LTD. increased its position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 22.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 726,870 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 133,306 shares during the period. Church & Dwight makes up about 2.1% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $68,733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 106,565.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,688,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682,725 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 89.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,283,000 after buying an additional 2,839,783 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter valued at $192,019,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,454,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,148,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,808,000 after purchasing an additional 645,291 shares during the period. 86.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

CHD opened at $104.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $100.75 and a 200-day moving average of $95.47. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $82.25 and a 52-week high of $105.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $25.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.53.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 12.88% and a return on equity of 20.28%. Church & Dwight’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.2838 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is 37.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on CHD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Church & Dwight from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Church & Dwight from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Church & Dwight from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $85.00 to $100.00 in a report on Friday, December 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.80.

Insider Transactions at Church & Dwight

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total value of $1,037,763.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $451,551.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $472,500.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 373,052 shares of company stock worth $38,603,796. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

About Church & Dwight

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.