Banco Santander S.A. Trims Stock Holdings in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN)

Banco Santander S.A. reduced its stake in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,240 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,960 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Haleon were worth $1,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Haleon in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Haleon by 2,029.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 3,348 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Haleon in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in Haleon by 3,470.0% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 3,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in Haleon in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 6.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on HLN. Morgan Stanley lowered Haleon from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Haleon in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Haleon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Haleon from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Haleon presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.95.

Haleon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HLN opened at $10.45 on Monday. Haleon plc has a 1-year low of $7.89 and a 1-year high of $10.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.68 and a 200-day moving average of $9.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $47.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.25.

Haleon (NYSE:HLN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.38 billion. Haleon had a return on equity of 14.76% and a net margin of 10.85%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Haleon plc will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This represents a yield of 1.6%. This is an increase from Haleon’s previous — dividend of $0.05. Haleon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.97%.

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.