Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) Short Interest Up 6.8% in December

Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,140,000 shares, an increase of 6.8% from the December 15th total of 16,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised Haleon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Haleon from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Haleon from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.95.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Haleon by 5.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 104,918,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,110,035,000 after purchasing an additional 5,768,117 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Haleon by 67.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sculptor Capital LP now owns 8,887,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,407,000 after buying an additional 3,592,000 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Haleon by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 41,753,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,888,000 after buying an additional 3,307,009 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Haleon by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,152,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,833,000 after buying an additional 3,046,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Haleon by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,084,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,791,000 after buying an additional 1,026,939 shares during the last quarter. 6.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Haleon Stock Up 0.5 %

HLN traded up $0.05 during trading on Monday, reaching $9.24. The stock had a trading volume of 21,226,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,607,522. 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 $41.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $9.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.71. Haleon has a one year low of $7.89 and a one year high of $10.80.

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.