Haleon (NYSE:HLN) Rating Lowered to Neutral at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Haleon (NYSE:HLN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. HSBC started coverage on shares of Haleon in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Haleon in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. They set a buy rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy.

Haleon Stock Performance

Shares of HLN stock traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, reaching $9.81. The stock had a trading volume of 4,278,131 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,233,505. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $8.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.24. Haleon has a 12 month low of $7.70 and a 12 month high of $9.83.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.01). Haleon had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 19.85%. The company had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Haleon will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Haleon Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.0514 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.6%. Haleon’s payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Institutional Trading of Haleon

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Haleon by 182.3% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 438,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,726,000 after acquiring an additional 283,410 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Haleon in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,969,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Haleon by 164.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,542,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,454,000 after purchasing an additional 8,423,475 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Haleon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,083,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Haleon by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 8,401,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,332,000 after purchasing an additional 175,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.