Pitcairn Co. Invests $386,000 in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Pitcairn Co. acquired a new stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 8,994 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 44.1% during the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 7,737 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366 shares in the last quarter. Arjuna Capital grew its holdings in GSK by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 32,078 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after buying an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in GSK by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 136,740 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,862,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201 shares during the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GSK during the 1st quarter worth approximately $107,000. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 10,618 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

GSK Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of GSK stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $39.07. 2,479,590 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,517,753. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. GSK plc has a 12-month low of $33.67 and a 12-month high of $45.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.41.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 51.54% and a net margin of 14.62%. The firm had revenue of $9.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.98 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.3762 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on GSK in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $50.00.

GSK Profile

GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development, and manufacture of vaccines, and specialty and general medicines to prevent and treat disease in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Commercial Operations and Total R&D.