Bridgewater Associates LP Has $4.62 Million Stock Holdings in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Bridgewater Associates LP decreased its position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 45.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,144 shares of the company’s stock after selling 36,680 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Church & Dwight were worth $4,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Church & Dwight by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,691,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,213,661,000 after acquiring an additional 193,602 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,336,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $768,157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,154 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Church & Dwight by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,915,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,794,000 after purchasing an additional 148,234 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Church & Dwight during the 4th quarter worth approximately $318,532,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Church & Dwight by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,921,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,884,000 after buying an additional 298,848 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CHD. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Church & Dwight from $97.00 to $94.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Church & Dwight from $128.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Church & Dwight in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Church & Dwight from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $112.00 to $125.00 in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 11,060 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.98, for a total transaction of $1,216,378.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $707,941.26. This represents a 63.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total value of $6,322,069.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 65,570 shares of company stock worth $7,538,449 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Church & Dwight stock opened at $105.32 on Friday. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.35 and a 1 year high of $116.46. The company has a market capitalization of $25.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77. Church & Dwight had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 20.03%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Church & Dwight Co., Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. This is a positive change from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.79%.

Church & Dwight Company 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.