Haleon (NYSE:HLN) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 6,366,402 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 23% from the previous session’s volume of 5,183,937 shares.The stock last traded at $10.08 and had previously closed at $10.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on HLN shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Haleon from $9.90 to $10.95 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Haleon from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Berenberg Bank began coverage on shares of Haleon in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Haleon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.95.

Haleon Trading Down 0.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $46.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50 day moving average is $10.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.01). Haleon had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The business had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Haleon plc will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Haleon Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.0514 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Haleon’s payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

Institutional Trading of Haleon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Haleon by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 1,098 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management lifted its holdings in Haleon by 2.5% in the second quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 46,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Haleon by 9.9% in the second quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 12,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Haleon by 2.7% during the second quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 44,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 1,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Haleon by 18.5% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the period. 6.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.