Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Short Interest Down 8.6% in December

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) was the recipient of 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. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,550,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Kenvue Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KVUE opened at $21.11 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.71. Kenvue has a 52 week low of $17.67 and a 52 week high of $24.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.37, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.46.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.90 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Kenvue will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Kenvue’s payout ratio is 149.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KVUE. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,161 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 23.6% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 3,576,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,727,000 after purchasing an additional 681,954 shares during the last quarter. Saturna Capital Corp increased its stake in Kenvue by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 1,334,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,875,000 after buying an additional 307,039 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Kenvue by 122.1% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 45,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $969,000 after buying an additional 24,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its position in Kenvue by 134.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 49,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after buying an additional 28,125 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KVUE. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Kenvue in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Kenvue from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. Barclays cut their price objective on Kenvue from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Kenvue from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $25.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.08.

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.