Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Short Interest Update

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 38,500,000 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the October 15th total of 31,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 15,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Kenvue

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Kenvue by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 166,789,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,579,294,000 after buying an additional 17,908,497 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Kenvue by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 137,915,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,189,985,000 after purchasing an additional 3,075,019 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Kenvue by 23.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 134,565,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,887,773,000 after buying an additional 25,238,112 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 8.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 86,979,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,011,832,000 after buying an additional 7,115,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 68,319,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,466,147,000 after acquiring an additional 6,825,611 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Kenvue Trading Up 1.7 %

Kenvue stock traded up $0.41 during trading on Friday, hitting $24.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,880,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,003,244. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $22.73 and its 200 day moving average is $20.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Kenvue has a 1-year low of $17.67 and a 1-year high of $24.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.36.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Kenvue had a net margin of 6.88% and a return on equity of 21.43%. The business had revenue of $3.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kenvue will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio is currently 149.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Kenvue from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Kenvue from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Kenvue in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.64.

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.