Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 4,567,165 Shares of Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,803,243 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,567,165 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Haleon were worth $312,943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HLN. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Haleon by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 4,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Haleon by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 148,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,575,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Haverford Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Haleon by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 25,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in Haleon by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 17,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Finally, Baron Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Haleon by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HLN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res lowered Haleon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. HSBC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Haleon in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered Haleon from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Haleon in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Haleon from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.95.

Haleon Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE HLN opened at $10.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $46.33 billion, a PE ratio of 30.10, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.25. Haleon plc has a 12 month low of $7.99 and a 12 month high of $10.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.94 and a 200-day moving average of $9.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. Haleon had a return on equity of 14.76% and a net margin of 10.85%. The business had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.38 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Haleon plc will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Haleon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.1166 per share. This is a boost from Haleon’s previous — dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. This represents a yield of 1.6%. Haleon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.97%.

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.