Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 1,714,826 Shares of Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,449,656 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,714,826 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 1.38% of Kenvue worth $571,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Kenvue by 34.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 347,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,320,000 after acquiring an additional 89,896 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Kenvue by 20.5% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 9.1% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 4,216,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,657,000 after purchasing an additional 351,999 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kenvue by 20.4% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 24,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 4,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Kenvue by 9.5% in the second quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,046,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,030,000 after buying an additional 91,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on KVUE shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Kenvue from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Kenvue from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Kenvue in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.64.

Kenvue Stock Performance

Kenvue stock opened at $22.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.36. Kenvue Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.67 and a 1-year high of $24.46. The company’s 50-day moving average is $22.95 and its 200 day moving average is $21.17.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Kenvue had a return on equity of 21.43% and a net margin of 6.88%. The firm had revenue of $3.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Kenvue Inc. will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Kenvue Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio is currently 149.09%.

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.