Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Acquires New Position in Kenvue Inc. $KVUE

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 443,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,473,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Kenvue during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,882,279,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kenvue during the fourth quarter worth about $756,862,000. Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Kenvue by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 48,146,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $830,527,000 after buying an additional 17,343,785 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Kenvue by 1,023.5% during the fourth quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 12,886,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,289,000 after buying an additional 11,739,328 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Kenvue in the second quarter valued at approximately $192,080,000. 97.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Kenvue Stock Performance

NYSE:KVUE opened at $19.23 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $19.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.23. Kenvue Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.02 and a 1-year high of $20.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $36.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Kenvue Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. This is a positive change from Kenvue’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.55%.

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.