Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,640,000 shares, a decline of 5.8% from the November 30th total of 5,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,490,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CHD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Church & Dwight from $114.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Church & Dwight in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Church & Dwight from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Matthew Farrell sold 165,823 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.03, for a total transaction of $17,084,743.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 112,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,613,438.57. This represents a 59.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael Read purchased 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $106.82 per share, for a total transaction of $117,502.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,505 shares in the company, valued at $267,584.10. This trade represents a 78.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 593,035 shares of company stock valued at $62,282,808 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Church & Dwight

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CHD. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Church & Dwight by 0.8% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 50,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,242,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 803,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,249,000 after buying an additional 88,580 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight during the 3rd quarter worth $5,934,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 337,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,368,000 after buying an additional 28,129 shares during the period. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 55.5% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 241,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,070,000 after acquiring an additional 86,318 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Price Performance

Shares of CHD traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $104.71. 814,550 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,395,382. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.65 billion, a PE ratio of 46.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.32. Church & Dwight has a fifty-two week low of $93.32 and a fifty-two week high of $113.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.08% and a return on equity of 19.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Church & Dwight will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.2838 per share. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.67%.

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.