Guggenheim Capital LLC Sells 5,210 Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Guggenheim Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 17.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,405 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,210 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $2,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Church & Dwight by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 41,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,655,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 38,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 3,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 3,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $111.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Church & Dwight in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.31.

Church & Dwight Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE CHD opened at $96.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.41. The company has a market capitalization of $23.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.47. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a one year low of $70.16 and a one year high of $100.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $96.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.45.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 21.12% and a net margin of 7.93%. Church & Dwight’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be given a $0.2725 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 14th. This represents a $1.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Matthew Farrell sold 7,006 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.15, for a total transaction of $680,632.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 112,444 shares in the company, valued at $10,923,934.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Richard A. Dierker sold 90,000 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.80, for a total transaction of $8,622,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,544 shares in the company, valued at $722,715.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew Farrell sold 7,006 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.15, for a total value of $680,632.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 112,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,923,934.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 125,467 shares of company stock worth $12,037,074 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Church & Dwight Profile

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.