Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Short Interest Up 9.6% in September

by · The Markets Daily

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE – Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 45,130,000 shares, a growth of 9.6% from the September 15th total of 41,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 16,210,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kenvue

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Kenvue by 23.1% in the 1st 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Kenvue by 12.0% during the first 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 during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Kenvue by 110.9% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,510,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,880,000 after acquiring an additional 10,783,258 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Kenvue by 16,051.1% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 9,813,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,600,000 after acquiring an additional 9,752,836 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 43,444,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $789,813,000 after acquiring an additional 7,546,362 shares in the last quarter. 97.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Kenvue in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Kenvue from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Kenvue from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.20.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Kenvue

Kenvue Price Performance

Kenvue stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.73. 13,799,119 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,186,938. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Kenvue has a 12-month low of $17.67 and a 12-month high of $23.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.18. The company has a market capitalization of $41.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.40.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.93 billion. Kenvue had a net margin of 7.23% and a return on equity of 21.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Kenvue will post 1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This is an increase from Kenvue’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio is 105.13%.

Kenvue Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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