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

Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,140,000 shares, an increase of 6.8% from the December 15th total of 16,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company's shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on HLN shares. UBS Group raised Haleon to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Haleon from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Haleon from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Haleon presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $10.95.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Haleon

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HLN. FMR LLC grew its position in Haleon by 5.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 104,918,269 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,110,035,000 after purchasing an additional 5,768,117 shares in the last quarter. Sculptor Capital LP boosted its stake in shares of Haleon by 67.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 8,887,098 shares of the company's stock worth $73,407,000 after buying an additional 3,592,000 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Haleon by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 41,753,987 shares of the company's stock valued at $344,888,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,009 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Haleon by 49.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,152,490 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,833,000 after acquiring an additional 3,046,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Haleon by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,084,202 shares of the company's stock worth $53,791,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,939 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.67% of the company's stock.

Haleon Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of HLN stock traded up $0.05 on Friday, hitting $9.24. 21,226,372 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,607,522. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.54 and a 200 day moving average of $9.71. Haleon has a fifty-two week low of $7.89 and a fifty-two week high of $10.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

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.

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