Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $52,000 Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD – Get Rating) by 92.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 728 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,231 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $52,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Church & Dwight by 3.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,645,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,725,000 after purchasing an additional 231,649 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Church & Dwight by 10.1% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,400,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $314,399,000 after purchasing an additional 405,360 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 0.9% during the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,905,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,231,000 after acquiring an additional 24,901 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 13.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,601,181 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,028,000 after acquiring an additional 300,049 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 3.7% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,726,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,315,000 after acquiring an additional 61,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Church & Dwight from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Church & Dwight from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 13th. Argus lowered Church & Dwight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Church & Dwight from $79.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group raised Church & Dwight from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Church & Dwight currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.81.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Penry W. Price sold 17,544 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.90, for a total transaction of $1,471,941.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,039,692.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Price Performance

Church & Dwight stock opened at $83.67 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $82.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.43. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a one year low of $70.16 and a one year high of $105.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $20.42 billion, a PE ratio of 49.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.45.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.70% and a net margin of 7.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th were paid a $0.2725 dividend. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 14th. This represents a $1.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.88%.

About Church & Dwight

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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.