Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Has $48.81 Million Stock Position in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 466,144 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,433 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.19% of Church & Dwight worth $48,810,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the 3rd quarter valued at $104,795,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,116,334 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,373,542,000 after buying an additional 969,006 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the 4th quarter valued at $76,565,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Church & Dwight in the 3rd quarter valued at $58,338,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Church & Dwight by 63.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,106,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,832,000 after buying an additional 431,257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.60% of the company’s stock.

Church & Dwight Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CHD opened at $108.20 on Friday. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $96.35 and a 52-week high of $116.46. The company has a market capitalization of $26.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.70.

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

Church & Dwight Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.295 dividend. This is an increase from Church & Dwight’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Church & Dwight’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CHD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Church & Dwight from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Church & Dwight from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Church & Dwight in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Church & Dwight from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Church & Dwight from $107.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Church & Dwight currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Church & Dwight news, EVP Rene Hemsey sold 11,060 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,437 shares in the company, valued at $707,941.26. This trade represents a 63.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maynadier Patrick D. De sold 54,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.98, for a total transaction of $6,322,069.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,217,442.06. This trade represents a 83.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,570 shares of company stock worth $7,538,449 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.