LONDON, June 20, 2026, 20:04 BST
- Haleon ended Friday at 334 pence, edging up 0.06%. The stock fell 0.83% over the last five sessions and is down 10.89% so far in 2026.
- FTSE 100 fell 1% on the week. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut Haleon to Neutral and set a 365p price target.
Haleon PLC starts the week still lagging after a broker downgrade put its U.S. recovery in doubt. Shares finished Friday little changed at 334p as trading wrapped up in London.
No real shift this week. Haleon touched 341.9p Monday, then couldn’t finish above 335p for the next four days. Buyers still holding back after the fall seen this year.
Redburn’s Edward Lewis cut his rating on the shares to Neutral from Buy. His price target is 365p, about 9% higher than Friday’s close. But the downgrade sends the signal that while there’s still some upside, Lewis doesn’t see enough to call the stock a buy anymore. Targets elsewhere have varied, with Deutsche Bank at 325p and Morgan Stanley at 430p. That’s a wide range, showing uncertainty over the speed of recovery.
Haleon was choppy on Friday, swinging from 331.9p to 337.3p as roughly 42.5 million shares traded. It ended the session up just 0.2p.
Haleon’s first-quarter numbers tell the story. Organic revenue growth was 2.2%. In North America, growth was 1%. Oral Health jumped 8.3%. Respiratory Health dropped 3.4%. The company kept its 2026 forecast for 3% to 5% organic growth and high-single-digit growth in adjusted operating profit before currency swings. CEO Brian McNamara said, “growth to accelerate across the balance of the year.” Haleon Corporate
Haleon can’t rely just on Sensodyne and Parodontax for growth. “Haleon isn’t a million miles away from being a very good story, but it needs more than the toothpaste business to start performing,” Quilter analyst Chris Beckett said after the first-quarter update. Rival Reckitt is facing soft demand for cold-and-flu goods, pointing to sector-wide pressure. Reuters
£500 million in buybacks is giving Haleon some support. The company started buying shares on the market in March. Fewer shares can help lift earnings per share. Cash returns might help keep the valuation steady, but they don’t solve slow volume or category growth.
Haleon is facing risk as U.S. shoppers stay cautious and changes in how it gets products to stores are slow to take hold. The company went into 2026 coming off weaker demand in the U.S., with tougher promotions from competitors and some customers opting for cheaper brands in certain categories. If the next respiratory season is weak again, the pressure will fall more on its oral health segment. That could make hitting the 3%-5% sales growth target tougher.
Haleon has no trading update lined up for next week, with the next significant event the first-half results on July 30. That leaves the stock in the hands of broker moves, shifts in the broader FTSE, and scraps of news on North American sales momentum.
