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

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 76,910 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 548% compared to the typical volume of 11,863 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kenvue

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in Kenvue by 438.4% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,163 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 947 shares during the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. bought a new position in Kenvue during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Kenvue during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Kenvue by 67.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,418 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Kenvue during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. 97.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kenvue Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KVUE traded down $0.45 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.55. The stock had a trading volume of 9,884,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,090,936. Kenvue has a one year low of $17.67 and a one year high of $25.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $45.19 billion, a PE ratio of 44.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.02. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $23.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.56.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Kenvue had a return on equity of 20.97% and a net margin of 6.66%. The firm had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.69 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Kenvue will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. Kenvue's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 149.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on KVUE. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Kenvue in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Kenvue in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $23.50 price objective for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $25.33.

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.