Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) Hits New 52-Week Low on Insider Selling

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $90.99 and last traded at $94.60, with a volume of 1124139 shares. The stock had previously closed at $91.57.

Specifically, Director Penry W. Price sold 14,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.13, for a total value of $1,365,285.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,518,514.59. This represents a 35.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CHD. TD Cowen lowered shares of Church & Dwight from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America raised Church & Dwight from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $112.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.13.

Church & Dwight Price Performance

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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.54. The company has a market cap of $23.34 billion, a PE ratio of 39.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.02. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Church & Dwight Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Church & Dwight’s payout ratio is currently 50.64%.

Institutional Trading of Church & Dwight

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Church & Dwight by 63.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,106,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,832,000 after purchasing an additional 431,257 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,957,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,562,000 after buying an additional 3,250 shares in the last quarter. Courier Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Church & Dwight by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 4,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121 shares during the period. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 3,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. 86.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Church & Dwight

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.