Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) saw a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 35,720,000 shares, a decrease of 8.6% from the December 15th total of 39,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 13,550,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Kenvue from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Kenvue in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on Kenvue from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays decreased their target price on Kenvue from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Kenvue from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.08.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kenvue

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Kenvue during the fourth quarter worth $323,000. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Kenvue by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 241,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,166,000 after acquiring an additional 6,296 shares during the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank increased its stake in Kenvue by 109.8% during the fourth quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 11,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 6,104 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in Kenvue by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 94,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,026,000 after acquiring an additional 24,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp increased its stake in Kenvue by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 11,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Kenvue Price Performance

NYSE:KVUE opened at $21.11 on Friday. Kenvue has a one year low of $17.67 and a one year high of $24.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $40.46 billion, a PE ratio of 38.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.66.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. Kenvue had a return on equity of 21.43% and a net margin of 6.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Kenvue will post 1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 149.09%.

About Kenvue

Kenvue Inc operates as a consumer health company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Self Care, Skin Health and Beauty, and Essential Health. The Self Care segment offers cough, cold and allergy, pain care, digestive health, smoking cessation, eye care, and other products under the Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, Nicorette, Zarbee's, ORSLTM, Rhinocort, Calpol, and Zyrtec brands.