Hexagon Capital Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 80.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,100 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,067 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its position in GSK by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 3,961 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in GSK by 305.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 118,233 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,383,000 after buying an additional 89,089 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in GSK by 23.6% in the third quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 76,840 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,785,000 after buying an additional 14,689 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the fourth quarter valued at $7,024,000. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 18.9% in the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 25,754 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 4,101 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GSK shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Citigroup upgraded GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Guggenheim upgraded GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, GSK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

GSK Price Performance

GSK stock traded up $0.97 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.41. 1,115,765 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,423,339. GSK plc has a 12 month low of $33.33 and a 12 month high of $43.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.64.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.04). GSK had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 51.45%. The company had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.79 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.3564 per share. This represents a $1.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 52.82%.

About GSK

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.