Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) Price Target Lowered to $106.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) had its price target lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $107.00 to $106.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Church & Dwight from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $114.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report 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 research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities 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, Church & Dwight currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.47.

Church & Dwight Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CHD opened at $105.40 on Friday. Church & Dwight has a 52-week low of $96.35 and a 52-week high of $113.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.66.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Church & Dwight will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This is a boost from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is presently 49.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Rick Spann sold 39,520 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total value of $4,426,240.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,976. This represents a 88.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 shares were purchased at an average cost of $106.82 per share, with a total value of $117,502.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 2,505 shares in the company, valued at $267,584.10. This trade represents a 78.29 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 49,522 shares of company stock valued at $5,487,555 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Church & Dwight

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in Church & Dwight by 0.8% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 50,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,242,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter worth about $639,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Church & Dwight during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,934,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Church & Dwight by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 337,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,368,000 after buying an additional 28,129 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Enhancement Group LLC boosted its position in Church & Dwight by 456.2% in the 4th quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 60,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,232,000 after buying an additional 49,693 shares during the period. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.