Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Stake in Kenvue Inc. $KVUE

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 317,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,046,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mint Tower Capital Management B.V. acquired a new position in shares of Kenvue during the second quarter worth $1,529,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Kenvue in the second quarter valued at $3,891,000. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kenvue in the 2nd quarter valued at about $924,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kenvue in the second quarter valued at $26,755,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Kenvue during the second quarter worth approximately $10,328,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Kenvue Price Performance

Shares of KVUE stock opened at $19.15 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.25. The company has a market cap of $36.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.47. Kenvue Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.02 and a twelve month high of $20.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.01). Kenvue had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The firm had revenue of $3.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Kenvue Inc. will post 1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. This is an increase from Kenvue’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Kenvue’s payout ratio is 96.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KVUE shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Kenvue from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kenvue from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Kenvue from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Kenvue from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.27.

About Kenvue

Kenvue is a consumer health company that was established as a standalone, publicly traded business after separating from Johnson & Johnson. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KVUE, Kenvue focuses on the development, manufacture, marketing and distribution of consumer health and personal care products across a range of categories including skin and beauty care, baby care, oral care, wound care and over?the?counter medicines.

The company owns and markets a portfolio of widely recognized consumer brands, including names familiar to global shoppers across retail and pharmacy channels.