O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN - Free Report) by 141.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 354,436 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 207,577 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC's holdings in Haleon were worth $3,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Haleon by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,152,490 shares of the company's stock worth $96,833,000 after buying an additional 3,046,841 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Haleon by 1.9% in the fourth 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 worth $57,382,000 after acquiring an additional 930,701 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Haleon during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,193,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new position in shares of Haleon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,628,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 6.67% of the company's stock.

Haleon Price Performance

Shares of HLN traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $9.53. 9,216,274 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,584,606. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $10.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $43.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.24. Haleon plc has a 12-month low of $7.99 and a 12-month high of $10.80.

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

Haleon Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a yield of 1.6%. This is a positive change from Haleon's previous -- dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. Haleon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.