Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Stake in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Haleon plc (NYSE:HLN) by 137.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,935 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,975 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Haleon were worth $390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HLN. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Haleon by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 108,827,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,038,217,000 after acquiring an additional 3,909,545 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Haleon by 67.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,328,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,232,000 after acquiring an additional 6,175,835 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 58,444 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 930,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Haleon by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,412,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172,931 shares during the last quarter. 6.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on HLN shares. Wall Street Zen raised Haleon from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Haleon from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $13.40 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Haleon in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Haleon in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Haleon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.33.

Haleon Price Performance

Shares of Haleon stock opened at $10.91 on Thursday. Haleon plc has a twelve month low of $8.25 and a twelve month high of $11.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.07, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.31. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $10.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.06.

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.