Dodge & Cox Trims Stock Position in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN)

Dodge & Cox reduced its holdings in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN - Free Report) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 178,744,926 shares of the company's stock after selling 427,457 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox owned about 3.95% of Haleon worth $1,705,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HLN. FMR LLC increased its position in Haleon by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 108,827,814 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,038,217,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909,545 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Haleon by 67.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,328,325 shares of the company's stock valued at $146,232,000 after purchasing an additional 6,175,835 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Haleon by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 8,624,149 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,274,000 after buying an additional 161,865 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Haleon by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,630,307 shares of the company's stock worth $72,793,000 after buying an additional 58,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Haleon by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,014,903 shares of the company's stock worth $57,382,000 after buying an additional 930,701 shares during the period. 6.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Haleon Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:HLN traded up $0.06 on Friday, reaching $10.22. 16,644,855 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,148,029. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $46.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.24. Haleon plc has a 12 month low of $8.12 and a 12 month high of $10.80. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $10.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.80.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. Haleon had a net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 14.76%. The company had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.38 billion. Equities analysts predict that Haleon plc will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Haleon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a yield of 1.6%. This is an increase from Haleon's previous -- dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. Haleon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HLN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Haleon from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Haleon in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Haleon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. HSBC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Haleon in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Haleon from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Haleon currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.95.

Haleon Company 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.