Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $16.97, but opened at $17.90. Kenvue shares last traded at $17.67, with a volume of 15,499,940 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KVUE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Kenvue from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Kenvue in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kenvue presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.63.

Kenvue Stock Up 2.9%

The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $33.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.00.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.94 billion. Kenvue had a net margin of 9.37% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. Kenvue has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.000-1.050 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Kenvue Inc. will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.2075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. This is an increase from Kenvue’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kenvue

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688 shares during the period. V. M. Manning & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kenvue in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $377,000. Q3 Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Kenvue in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $284,000. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 283,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,936,000 after purchasing an additional 66,112 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,334,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,727,000 after purchasing an additional 49,427 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Kenvue Company Profile

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.