Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 7,011 Shares of Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its position in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 130,887 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,011 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Kenvue were worth $2,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Kenvue by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 134,565,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,887,773,000 after purchasing an additional 25,238,112 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Kenvue by 52.4% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 828,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,784,000 after buying an additional 285,128 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Kenvue in the first quarter valued at about $243,000. Huber Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 30.6% during the 1st quarter. Huber Capital Management LLC now owns 83,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 19,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Kenvue by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,303,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,887,000 after purchasing an additional 70,533 shares during the period. 97.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KVUE shares. William Blair began coverage on shares of Kenvue in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Kenvue from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Kenvue in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on Kenvue from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.45.

Kenvue Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KVUE traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $18.75. The stock had a trading volume of 2,931,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,931,432. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $35.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.53. Kenvue Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.67 and a fifty-two week high of $24.43.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.03. Kenvue had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.79 billion. Kenvue’s revenue was down 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kenvue Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. This is a positive change from Kenvue’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 14th. Kenvue’s payout ratio is presently 102.56%.

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.