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

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 24,195 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 168% compared to the average volume of 9,030 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kenvue

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alerus Financial NA increased its position in Kenvue by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alerus Financial NA now owns 191,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,426,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Kiley Juergens Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Kenvue by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Kiley Juergens Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Kenvue by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. White Pine Capital LLC increased its position in Kenvue by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. White Pine Capital LLC now owns 54,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in Kenvue by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. 97.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KVUE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Kenvue from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Kenvue in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kenvue currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.75.

Kenvue Stock Performance

Shares of KVUE stock opened at $23.20 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.37. The company has a market capitalization of $44.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.00. Kenvue has a 52 week low of $17.67 and a 52 week high of $24.46.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.26. Kenvue had a net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 20.97%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Kenvue will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. Kenvue’s payout ratio is presently 154.72%.

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.