The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 1,053 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 0.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,010,499 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 1,053 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in GSK were worth $38,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GSK in the second quarter valued at $349,000. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in GSK by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 23,493 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in GSK by 448.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,690 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $758,000 after purchasing an additional 14,466 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of GSK during the first quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Finally, Thomasville National Bank grew its stake in shares of GSK by 5.3% during the first quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 453,795 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,454,000 after buying an additional 23,022 shares during the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GSK opened at $40.71 on Monday. GSK plc has a 52 week low of $33.67 and a 52 week high of $45.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $84.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.60.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 51.48%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.17 earnings per share for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.3843 per share. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GSK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Berenberg Bank upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Argus raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.00.

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.