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

Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 58,704 put options on the company. This is an increase of 131% compared to the typical volume of 25,459 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on KVUE shares. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Kenvue in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.50 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Kenvue from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Kenvue in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Kenvue from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Kenvue from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kenvue currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.71.

Kenvue Stock Up 0.7%

KVUE stock opened at $22.00 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.21 billion, a PE ratio of 40.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.83. Kenvue has a 12 month low of $17.85 and a 12 month high of $25.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Kenvue had a net margin of 6.90% and a return on equity of 20.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Kenvue will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kenvue

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kenvue in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kenvue in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kenvue in the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in shares of Kenvue by 266.8% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Finally, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its stake in shares of Kenvue by 378.5% in the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

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.