Haleon (NYSE:HLN) Shares Up 3.7% Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) rose 3.7% during mid-day trading on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $10.64 and last traded at $10.56. Approximately 5,868,120 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 6,443,225 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.18.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. Haleon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HLN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Haleon from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Haleon from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Haleon currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.95.

Haleon Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.84. The company has a market capitalization of $47.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.28. 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 quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $3.38 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Haleon plc will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brucke Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Haleon during the 4th quarter worth about $96,000. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Haleon by 52.2% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 30,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 10,530 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its position in Haleon by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 59,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 10,468 shares in the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC purchased a new position in Haleon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $472,000. Finally, Wolverine Trading LLC acquired a new position in Haleon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 6.67% of the company’s stock.

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.