London, June 17, 2026, 10:03 BST
- Haleon shares slipped 0.3% to 332.5p in London. The stock remains over 11% lower for the year.
- Haleon was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Rothschild & Co Redburn, while Morgan Stanley kept its Overweight rating but lowered its target price.
- Buybacks and growth in India offer some help to investors. Still, the main questions are U.S. demand, weaker cold-and-flu trends, and freight costs.
Haleon shares fell in London on Wednesday as a new broker downgrade weighed on the Sensodyne owner. The company is still working to reassure investors that sluggish U.S. demand and slow cold-and-flu sales will not impact growth in 2026.
Haleon shares last dealt at 332.45 pence, off 0.26%, based on a Cboe Europe estimate on MarketScreener. The stock is now down 1.66% in the past five days and has dropped 11.29% since the year began. Delayed retail data showed the FTSE 100 trading lower by roughly 0.2%.
Haleon got cut to Neutral from Buy at Rothschild & Co Redburn Tuesday, with analyst Edward Lewis setting a 365p target, TipRanks reported. Morgan Stanley also trimmed its price target to 430p from 440p, while keeping its Overweight call.
The split gets to the heart of the Haleon share argument. Investors still go for its staples profile in shaky markets—everyday brands, steady cashflow, buybacks. The open issue is if non-oral health growth can speed up from here.
Haleon said Monday it bought 565,285 ordinary shares for cancellation, the company said in a filing. The shares were purchased under its buyback programme at a volume-weighted average price of 331.9552p. The filing was not an earnings update.
Operating results are harder to read. Haleon posted 2.2% organic revenue growth in the first quarter, which excludes moves in FX, deals, or other one-offs. Oral Health was up 8.3%. North America increased 1.0%. Respiratory Health slipped 3.4%. The company left its 2026 targets in place: 3% to 5% organic revenue growth and high-single-digit adjusted operating profit growth at constant FX.
Haleon CEO Brian McNamara told investors in April the company expects “growth to accelerate across the balance of the year.” Back in February, Reuters quoted him saying, “We feel confident the U.S. will grow this year.” Haleon Corporate
Management is making a bigger push in emerging markets. Last week, Haleon said it plans to spend around £175 million on a new oral-health factory in Madhya Pradesh in central India and step up its rural distribution. The company sees India’s consumer health sector topping £23 billion by 2030.
Haleon’s defensive label is looking shaky. Competitors Procter & Gamble and Reckitt have also been hit by higher energy and freight costs, Reuters said in April. Reckitt’s numbers were also hurt by a soft cold-and-flu season.
The risk is still there. If the U.S. shelf resets or distribution gains don’t land soon, or if freight and other input costs go up more than Haleon planned, investors may start to look at the lower end of the company’s 2026 sales target again. Chris Beckett at Quilter told Reuters in April that Haleon was on the verge of something better but added, “needs more than the toothpaste business to start performing.” Reuters
Haleon’s next milestone is first-half results on July 30. Shares aren’t moving much right now, stuck between a buyback at these levels and analyst doubts about the rest of the business catching up to Oral Health.
