Alliancebernstein L.P. Reduces Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 312,067 shares of the company’s stock after selling 57,850 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $32,677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Church & Dwight by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 32,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,374,000 after purchasing an additional 6,509 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in Church & Dwight in the 3rd quarter worth about $920,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 15.1% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total transaction of $6,322,069.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,217,442.06. This represents a 83.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 11,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.98, for a total transaction of $1,216,378.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $707,941.26. The trade was a 63.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,570 shares of company stock worth $7,538,449 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CHD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Church & Dwight from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Church & Dwight has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.13.

Church & Dwight Stock Down 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE CHD opened at $105.98 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.72, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a one year low of $96.35 and a one year high of $116.46. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.13.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 20.03%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. 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 1.11%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

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 Division (SPD), and Corporate. The Consumer Domestic segment offers household products, such as laundry detergents, fabric softener sheets, cat litter, household cleaning products, and personal care products including antiperspirants, oral care products, depilatories, reproductive health products, oral analgesics, nasal saline moisturizers, and dietary supplements.