Haleon (NYSE:HLN) Shares Gap Up - Still a Buy?

Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $9.79, but opened at $10.20. Haleon shares last traded at $10.11, with a volume of 1,391,381 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HLN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Haleon from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Haleon from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $10.95.

Haleon Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $48.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.28. The firm's fifty day moving average is $9.61 and its 200 day moving average is $9.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $3.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. Haleon had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 14.76%. As a group, analysts predict that Haleon plc will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Haleon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a -- dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a $0.1166 dividend. This is an increase from Haleon's previous -- dividend of $0.05. This represents a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. Haleon's dividend payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Haleon

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HLN. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Haleon by 67.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,328,325 shares of the company's stock worth $146,232,000 after acquiring an additional 6,175,835 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Haleon by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 104,918,269 shares of the company's stock worth $1,110,035,000 after acquiring an additional 5,768,117 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Haleon in the 4th quarter worth about $45,110,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Haleon in the 4th quarter worth about $42,193,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new stake in shares of Haleon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,628,000. 6.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.