Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in 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. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Haleon

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Haleon by 107.3% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193 shares in the last quarter. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Haleon during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Haleon during the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Haleon by 146.8% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 3,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Haleon by 456.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 4,477 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 6.67% of the company’s stock.

Haleon Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:HLN traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $9.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,365,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,176,709. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.54. Haleon has a 1 year low of $7.70 and a 1 year high of $9.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN) last issued its 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 return on equity of 19.85% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Haleon will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Haleon Cuts Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HLN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Haleon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Haleon in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Haleon presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Haleon Company Profile

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.