Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Raises Holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 806.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,020 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,714 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $3,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,910,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,740,665,000 after buying an additional 145,390 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,200,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $751,405,000 after buying an additional 217,047 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 89.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $552,283,000 after buying an additional 2,839,783 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 4,310,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $394,982,000 after buying an additional 29,943 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,291,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,645,000 after buying an additional 61,090 shares during the period. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of CHD stock opened at $107.91 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.53. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $26.32 billion, a PE ratio of 35.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.53. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $82.25 and a fifty-two week high of $108.10.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a $0.2838 dividend. 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 1.05%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CHD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Church & Dwight from $109.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Church & Dwight from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Church & Dwight from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew Farrell sold 275,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.83, for a total value of $28,553,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 112,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,703,613.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Church & Dwight news, CEO Matthew Farrell sold 275,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.83, for a total value of $28,553,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 112,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,703,613.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard A. Dierker sold 24,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.61, for a total value of $2,526,011.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $790,958.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 373,052 shares of company stock valued at $38,603,796. Company insiders own 1.40% 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.