D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 339,059 Shares of Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN - Free Report) by 83.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 66,458 shares of the company's stock after selling 339,059 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Haleon were worth $634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Haleon in the 4th quarter worth $152,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Haleon by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,307 shares of the company's stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 2,262 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Haleon by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 26,961 shares of the company's stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 4,130 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Haleon by 50.4% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 33,875 shares of the company's stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 11,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Haleon by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 850,563 shares of the company's stock worth $8,114,000 after purchasing an additional 99,666 shares in the last quarter. 6.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Haleon Price Performance

Shares of Haleon stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.24. 15,185,663 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,272,818. The company has a market capitalization of $50.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.92. 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 plc has a 52-week low of $8.25 and a 52-week high of $11.35.

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. Haleon had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 14.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Haleon plc will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Haleon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a -- dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be issued a $0.1166 dividend. This is an increase from Haleon's previous -- dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.6%. Haleon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Haleon from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $13.40 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating on shares of Haleon in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. HSBC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Haleon in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Haleon from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $11.25 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Haleon in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $12.33.

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.