Kenvue Inc. $KVUE Shares Purchased by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in Kenvue Inc. by 53%, acquiring an additional 1,660,329 shares, bringing its total ownership to 4,794,572 shares valued at approximately $114.97 million.
• Kenvue recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2075, up from the previous $0.21, representing an annualized yield of 3.9% with a payout ratio of 112.16%.
• After posting a Q2 EPS of $0.29, which surpassed expectations, Kenvue's revenue showed a decline of 4% year-over-year, coming in at $3.84 billion.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE - Free Report) by 53.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,794,572 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,660,329 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.25% of Kenvue worth $114,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,144,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,494,882,000 after buying an additional 10,600,682 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Kenvue by 2.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,606,238 shares of the company's stock valued at $613,882,000 after acquiring an additional 633,461 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Kenvue by 7.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 25,346,453 shares of the company's stock valued at $606,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750,490 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Kenvue by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,912,226 shares of the company's stock worth $597,395,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Starboard Value LP acquired a new position in shares of Kenvue during the 4th quarter worth $467,864,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.64% of the company's stock.

Kenvue Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:KVUE traded up $0.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.72. The stock had a trading volume of 10,307,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,296,208. Kenvue Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.75 and a fifty-two week high of $25.17. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.43. The stock has a market cap of $39.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.94 billion. Kenvue had a return on equity of 20.06% and a net margin of 9.37%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Kenvue has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.000-1.050 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th were given a $0.2075 dividend. This is a boost from Kenvue's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. Kenvue's dividend payout ratio is 112.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KVUE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Kenvue from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Kenvue from $24.50 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on Kenvue from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Kenvue to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $24.38.

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.