Clarius Group LLC Has $209,000 Stake in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Clarius Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock after selling 160 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $209,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Church & Dwight by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,910,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,740,665,000 after purchasing an additional 145,390 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Church & Dwight by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,200,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $751,405,000 after purchasing an additional 217,047 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Church & Dwight by 106,565.5% during 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Church & Dwight by 89.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,027,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839,783 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Church & Dwight by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,267,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,667,000 after purchasing an additional 92,964 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

CHD stock opened at $101.63 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $101.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $24.79 billion, a PE ratio of 33.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.53. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.25 and a 1-year high of $105.67.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.65. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Church & Dwight had a return on equity of 20.28% and a net margin of 12.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a $0.2838 dividend. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is 37.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Church & Dwight from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Church & Dwight from $91.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on Church & Dwight from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Church & Dwight in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total value of $1,037,763.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at $451,551.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Barry A. Bruno sold 9,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.55, for a total value of $1,037,763.30. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,319 shares in the company, valued at $451,551.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Read sold 4,500 shares of Church & Dwight stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $472,500.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 373,052 shares of company stock worth $38,603,796 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.