Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 42.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 378 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $42,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CHD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter valued at about $318,532,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,336,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,157,000 after buying an additional 1,190,154 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Church & Dwight in the fourth quarter worth approximately $76,565,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Church & Dwight in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,504,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Church & Dwight by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,018,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,073,000 after purchasing an additional 393,068 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael Read bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $92.07 per share, with a total value of $276,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,505 shares in the company, valued at $506,845.35. This trade represents a 119.76% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total value of $6,322,069.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,497 shares in the company, valued at $1,217,442.06. This represents a 83.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 109,765 shares of company stock valued at $11,821,881 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CHD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Church & Dwight from $106.00 to $102.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $94.00 to $84.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Church & Dwight from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $110.00.

Church & Dwight Stock Performance

Shares of CHD stock opened at $98.85 on Friday. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.99 and a 12-month high of $116.46. The company has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $99.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.50.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 20.03%. Church & Dwight’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. Analysts expect that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.64%.

Church & Dwight 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.