Fmr LLC Purchases 3,909,545 Shares of Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN)

FMR LLC raised its holdings in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN - Free Report) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 108,827,814 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 3,909,545 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned about 2.40% of Haleon worth $1,038,217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Haleon by 67.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,328,325 shares of the company's stock worth $146,232,000 after buying an additional 6,175,835 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Haleon by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 8,624,149 shares of the company's stock worth $82,274,000 after acquiring an additional 161,865 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Haleon by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,630,307 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,793,000 after purchasing an additional 58,444 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Haleon by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,014,903 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,382,000 after purchasing an additional 930,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Haleon in the fourth quarter worth $42,193,000. 6.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on HLN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Haleon from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Haleon in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Haleon from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. HSBC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Haleon in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Haleon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.95.

Haleon Stock Performance

NYSE HLN traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,215,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,970,386. Haleon plc has a 12 month low of $8.03 and a 12 month high of $10.80. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $10.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $45.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.24.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.38 billion. Haleon had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 14.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Haleon plc will post 0.43 EPS 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 dividend of $0.1166 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. This is a positive change from Haleon's previous -- dividend of $0.05. This represents a yield of 1.6%. Haleon's payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

Haleon 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.