Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) Raised to “Hold” at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Kenvue from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Kenvue from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Kenvue in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Kenvue from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.64.

Kenvue Stock Down 0.5 %

KVUE stock opened at $22.21 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.38, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.36. Kenvue has a fifty-two week low of $17.67 and a fifty-two week high of $24.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.95 and a 200-day moving average of $21.17.

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

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio is 149.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kenvue

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 18,283,473 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Kenvue by 110.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,510,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,880,000 after purchasing an additional 10,783,258 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 21.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 43,444,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $789,813,000 after purchasing an additional 7,546,362 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew 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 worth $2,011,832,000 after purchasing an additional 7,115,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 75.5% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 13,886,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,194,000 after purchasing an additional 5,975,392 shares during the last quarter. 97.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.