Insider Buying: Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) Director Buys 3,200,000 Shares of Stock

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Director Jeffrey Smith bought 3,200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $17.37 per share, for a total transaction of $55,584,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 27,307,632 shares in the company, valued at $474,333,567.84. The trade was a 13.27% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Kenvue Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE:KVUE traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $17.20. 45,949,797 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,650,086. The stock has a market cap of $32.94 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93 and a beta of 0.60. Kenvue Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.02 and a twelve month high of $25.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.20 and a 200 day moving average of $19.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.83 billion. Kenvue had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 20.02%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. Kenvue has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.000-1.050 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Kenvue Inc. will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were paid a $0.2075 dividend. This represents a $0.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kenvue by 1.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,246,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,881,844,000 after purchasing an additional 4,101,880 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,001,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,021,267,000 after buying an additional 604,953 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kenvue by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 37,046,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $601,267,000 after buying an additional 6,781,640 shares during the last quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of Kenvue by 233.4% during the 2nd quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 31,265,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $654,388,000 after buying an additional 21,886,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kenvue in the second quarter valued at about $537,418,000. 97.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KVUE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Rothschild Redb upgraded Kenvue from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $18.00 target price on shares of Kenvue in a report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Johnson Rice reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Kenvue in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Edward Jones downgraded shares of Kenvue from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kenvue currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.23.

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.