Starboard Value LP Makes New $467.86 Million Investment in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE)

Starboard Value LP bought a new position in shares of Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 21,914,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,864,000. Kenvue accounts for approximately 8.5% of Starboard Value LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KVUE. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Kenvue by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 245,885,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,249,665,000 after acquiring an additional 8,211,748 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 218,543,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,665,908,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636,741 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 10,682,003 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Kenvue by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 46,068,931 shares of the company’s stock valued at $980,989,000 after buying an additional 1,391,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 16,269,721 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KVUE shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Kenvue from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Kenvue in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $23.50 price target on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Kenvue from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup increased their price target on Kenvue from $22.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Kenvue in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kenvue presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.33.

Kenvue Trading Up 1.1%

KVUE stock opened at $24.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.57, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.02. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.59. Kenvue Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.67 and a 52 week high of $25.17.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. Kenvue had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 6.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kenvue Inc. will post 1.14 EPS for the current year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.205 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio is currently 149.09%.

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.