LGT Capital Partners LTD. Acquires 133,306 Shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. grew its stake in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 726,870 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 133,306 shares during the quarter. Church & Dwight makes up approximately 2.1% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. LGT Capital Partners LTD. owned approximately 0.30% of Church & Dwight worth $68,733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CHD. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Church & Dwight by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,910,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,740,665,000 after purchasing an additional 145,390 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Church & Dwight by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,454,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,430,000 after buying an additional 1,866,932 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Church & Dwight by 2.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,200,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,405,000 after acquiring an additional 217,047 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 106,565.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,688,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Church & Dwight by 89.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,283,000 after buying an additional 2,839,783 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CHD shares. Citigroup cut shares of Church & Dwight from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Church & Dwight in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 9,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.22, for a total transaction of $930,041.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,702.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Penry W. Price sold 7,752 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.29, for a total value of $761,944.08. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,525,266.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 9,280 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.22, for a total value of $930,041.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,702.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 373,052 shares of company stock valued at $38,603,796. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of CHD stock opened at $104.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $100.75 and a 200-day moving average of $95.47. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a one year low of $82.25 and a one year high of $105.67. The company has a market cap of $25.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.53.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.2838 per share. This is a boost 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 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.17%.

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.