Short Interest in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Expands By 18.9%

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 37,630,000 shares, an increase of 18.9% from the February 13th total of 31,660,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 13,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on KVUE shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on 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 target price on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kenvue from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five 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 target price of $23.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kenvue

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Grove Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Kenvue by 438.4% in the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,163 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 947 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kenvue in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Kenvue by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Kenvue by 106.6% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Kenvue by 300.8% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,441 shares in the last quarter. 97.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kenvue Price Performance

NYSE KVUE traded down $0.09 on Thursday, reaching $23.45. 8,785,467 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,047,013. The company has a market cap of $44.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.25. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.42. Kenvue has a 12 month low of $17.67 and a 12 month high of $24.46.

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

Kenvue Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 12th. Kenvue’s payout ratio is 154.72%.

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.