Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 31,660,000 shares, a growth of 19.2% from the January 31st total of 26,560,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 13,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on KVUE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kenvue from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Kenvue in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kenvue presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.75.

Kenvue Trading Up 1.2 %

KVUE traded up $0.27 on Friday, reaching $23.45. 9,054,000 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,423,370. Kenvue has a one year low of $17.67 and a one year high of $24.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.31. The company has a market cap of $44.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. Kenvue had a net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 20.97%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kenvue will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. Kenvue’s payout ratio is 154.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kenvue

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of KVUE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kenvue in the 4th quarter valued at about $521,348,000. Starboard Value LP bought a new stake in shares of Kenvue in the 4th quarter valued at about $467,864,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 127,213,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,942,458,000 after purchasing an additional 18,283,473 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 16,269,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 97,661,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,085,070,000 after purchasing an additional 10,682,003 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Kenvue Company Profile

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.