Short Interest in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Increases By 21.0%

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 49,270,000 shares, an increase of 21.0% from the April 30th total of 40,730,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 17,700,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Kenvue Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of KVUE opened at $21.67 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.62. The company has a market cap of $41.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Kenvue has a twelve month low of $17.67 and a twelve month high of $25.17.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Kenvue had a net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 20.97%. The company had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Kenvue will post 1.14 EPS for the current year.

Kenvue Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio is currently 149.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kenvue

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Kenvue by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 245,885,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,249,665,000 after purchasing an additional 8,211,748 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,144,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,494,882,000 after acquiring an additional 10,600,682 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 97,661,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,085,070,000 after purchasing an additional 10,682,003 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 46,068,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $980,989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 61.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 42,719,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,059,000 after buying an additional 16,269,721 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KVUE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Kenvue in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.50 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI began coverage on Kenvue in a report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup increased their target price on Kenvue from $22.00 to $24.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kenvue has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.33.

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.