Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE)

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 24,195 call options on the company. This is an increase of 168% compared to the typical daily volume of 9,030 call options.

Kenvue Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE KVUE opened at $23.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $44.33 billion, a PE ratio of 43.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.25. Kenvue has a 12-month low of $17.67 and a 12-month high of $24.46. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 20.97%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kenvue will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio is presently 154.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KVUE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Kenvue in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Kenvue from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Kenvue from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Kenvue by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 245,885,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,249,665,000 after buying an additional 8,211,748 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kenvue by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 218,543,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,665,908,000 after buying an additional 1,636,741 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Kenvue by 2.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 137,915,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,189,985,000 after buying an additional 3,075,019 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Kenvue by 16.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 127,213,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,942,458,000 after buying an additional 18,283,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Kenvue by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 97,661,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,085,070,000 after buying an additional 10,682,003 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.