Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Has $1.53 Million Stock Position in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,652 shares of the company’s stock after selling 694 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Kenvue were worth $1,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kenvue during the fourth quarter worth $521,348,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Kenvue by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 127,213,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,942,458,000 after acquiring an additional 18,283,473 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kenvue by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 42,719,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,059,000 after acquiring an additional 16,269,721 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Kenvue by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 23,595,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $503,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,097 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Kenvue by 75.5% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 13,886,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,194,000 after purchasing an additional 5,975,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of Kenvue in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Kenvue in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kenvue has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.00.

Kenvue Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Kenvue stock opened at $23.74 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.69. Kenvue Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.67 and a 1 year high of $24.46. The firm has a market cap of $45.36 billion, a PE ratio of 44.78, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.45.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26. Kenvue had a net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 20.97%. Analysts expect that Kenvue Inc. will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kenvue Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. Kenvue’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 154.72%.

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.