Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) Short Interest Down 12.9% in July

Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,520,000 shares, a drop of 12.9% from the July 15th total of 17,810,000 shares. Approximately 0.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,900,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Haleon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on shares of Haleon in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Haleon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HLN traded up $0.08 during trading on Monday, hitting $9.76. 4,365,009 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,176,709. The company has a market cap of $44.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.24. Haleon has a 52-week low of $7.70 and a 52-week high of $9.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $8.90 and a 200 day moving average of $8.54.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.55 billion. Haleon had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 19.85%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Haleon will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Haleon Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.0514 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Haleon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Haleon

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Haleon by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 38,446,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,415,000 after purchasing an additional 11,865,076 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Haleon by 164.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,542,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,454,000 after purchasing an additional 8,423,475 shares during the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP boosted its position in Haleon by 67.8% during the second quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 8,887,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,407,000 after buying an additional 3,592,000 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Haleon by 1.6% during the second quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 8,533,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,489,000 after buying an additional 131,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Haleon by 2.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,572,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,549,000 after buying an additional 196,843 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 6.67% of the company’s stock.

About Haleon

Haleon plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of various consumer healthcare products in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides oral health products, such as toothpastes, mouth washes, and denture care products under the Sensodyne, Polident, Parodontax, Biotene brands; and vitamins, minerals, and supplements under Centrum, Emergen-C, Caltrate brands.