Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 27,038 Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 27,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $582,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kenvue during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,944,816,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Kenvue by 572.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 89,182,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,790,794,000 after acquiring an additional 75,913,107 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Kenvue by 576.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 71,686,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,439,472,000 after acquiring an additional 61,084,123 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 227.7% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 61,091,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,226,711,000 after acquiring an additional 42,449,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 4,057.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 31,162,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $625,745,000 after purchasing an additional 30,413,040 shares in the last quarter. 97.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kenvue Stock Performance

KVUE opened at $19.59 on Tuesday. Kenvue Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.82 and a fifty-two week high of $27.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $19.84 and a 200 day moving average of $20.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. Kenvue had a net margin of 9.87% and a return on equity of 15.62%. The company’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kenvue Inc. will post 1.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on KVUE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Kenvue from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Kenvue in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Kenvue in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Kenvue from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on Kenvue in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kenvue presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.85.

Kenvue 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.