Agree, buying more on pullback. Let’s see if Emma is up to Stuffing Citadel one-that is her job. |
Lets fvuk citadel..99.5 percent long......lets give them a runover |
Citadel short could provide a good buying opportunity.Otherwise business fundamentals remain solid |
 Citadel building a short position won't have helped the share price recently.
Ken Griffin’s Citadel bets £300mn against drugmaker GSK
Hedge fund’s short position is the biggest in the FTSE 100 group in more than a decade.
Hedge fund Citadel has made a £305mn bet against drugmaker GSK, the biggest short position against the company in more than a decade.
Billionaire Ken Griffin’s hedge fund disclosed that it had entered the net short position on Tuesday, with the bet worth 0.51 per cent of the company’s stock, according to data from the Financial Conduct Authority compiled by provider Breakout Point.
The last time any firm disclosed a bet against the FTSE 100 pharmaceutical group was in 2013, according to the FCA disclosures.
GSK’s shares have risen 11 per cent in the last month, as the drugmaker raised its long-term sales forecast and embarked on a rare £2bn stock buyback earlier this month. GSK reported better than expected earnings on strong sales of HIV and cancer drugs.
But the stock has lagged rival pharmaceutical companies, as the drugmaker has failed to excite investors about its pipeline of new medicines and vaccines, which it needs to replace its HIV drugs when they face a patent cliff later in the decade. In the past five years, shares in GSK have fallen 15 per cent, compared with the S&P 500 pharmaceutical index, which rose 45 per cent.
Emma Walmsley, GSK’s chief executive, has already faced a battle against an activist investor, when hedge fund Elliott Management built a multibillion-pound stake in the company in 2021. Elliott questioned whether Walmsley was the right leader for the company, given she does not have a scientific background. It also pushed for GSK to consider takeover offers for its consumer health business Haleon, which was later spun off.
Analysts at JPMorgan said the fourth-quarter earnings and the company’s guidance for 2025 were “positive”. But they added: “We believe the market may also question the logic of a buyback three years from the start of the HIV patent cliff, with a still fairly thin late stage pipeline”. Analysts at Barclays also said that the share buyback was “unexpected”.
GSK’s shares collapsed in August 2022 when lawsuits over the heartburn drug Zantac emerged. But when GSK settled the vast majority of cases for $2.2bn in October last year, the shares did not return to their previous level.
The company has also suffered from unexpected bad news for two key products. In 2022, GSK withdrew its cancer drug Blenrep from the US market, after a trial did not meet FDA requirements for medicines that had received an accelerated approval. After further studies, the company is now expecting the drug will be reapproved by the regulator by July 2023.
Sales of Arexvy, its vaccine for the respiratory syndical virus, known as RSV, dropped in the second half of last year because a US advisory panel unexpectedly recommended limiting its use.
Citadel is the world’s top-performing hedge fund according to data from LCH Investments, an investor in hedge funds. The firm houses hundreds of trading teams who bet on a wide variety of assets including equities. Citadel manages $65bn worth of investor capital as of the start of the year, and was up 15.1 per cent in 2024.
Citadel declined to comment as the firm does not discuss its positions. GSK did not immediately respond to a request for comment. |
Hedge fund just made massive short bet against GSK. |
I feel markets are cautious about RFK and any negative impact he may make. Eventually financial performance will be the driving force behind future valuations. Failing that some corporate activity might need to involve itself. In the meantime I'm retaining a significantly overweight holding. |
Yes, there was a long period of doldrums with this stock during the Zantac litigation which I thought would reverse once an outcome was known. It seems that the institutions/market are still not impressed and great products and great results have not immediately made their impact. I'm prepared for a longer 'recovery'. |
Michael, you sound a little more circumspect/cautious than some of your previous posts - if so, is there a specific reason for this. |
At these prices, I hold on and keep taking the dividends back into my holding of GSK shares. |
Capital performance what performance share price below what there were 30 years ago, when they merged with Smith Kline. |
I've had GSK in my income port since forever. Latest yield forecast at 1,436p on their predicted 2025 64p divi is about 4.5%. Not that high but acceptable so I'm staying in as I have for so long.
Capital performance is dire, though I'm purely a long term hold income player, but for the record the share price has barely changed over all that time. The only reason I'm showing a modest profit on my combined GSK/HLN shares is the fine performance from Haleon, up about 55%, because I held on to my demerger allocation.
HLN's yield is very low but my usual attitude to most events is to do nothing, which is really why I hung on. The income and capital value is small relative to the rest of the port so it makes little difference to total port income and valuation. |
Buy and hold here (IMO), the channel has been 1300-1800 for a decade or more but now:
The development pipeline is the strongest it has been for years
71 medicines and vaccines in clinical development with 19 in phase III / registration
Zantac settlement is a known quantity
16 pence per quarter dividend payout
GBP2BN buyback over the coming 18 months
Core earnings per share expected to increase between 6 to 8 per cent at CER |
Just added a final tranche to take my ISA holding to were I wanted it. I still see these as a long term investment and a company now going in the right direction |
debt coming down nicelyProfit rising nicelyPipeline increasing nicelyOn my 'top' pick list |
Per of 15-20 is a more sensible valuation suggesting a possible doubling of the share price in the next year or two |
Nevertheless, £1.75m is a big tax bill .... ! |
I know. I was being silly on account of the alarmist post about the sell. |
#Yump, Directors are free to sell shares, so long as the company is not in a closed period, typically on the run up to results, now they are printed they can sell, and probably to fund a tax bill somewhere else..
Onward and upward.. :o) |
Can't believe this on 11xpe, being priced for no growth |
How could that sale have happened, given that directors are only allowed to buy shares, not sell them. |
Just selling the tax part of her shares |
This doesn't look good .....
GSK plc (LON:GSK) Emma Walmsley sold 120,653 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 1,453 ($18.09), for a total transaction of £1,753,088.09 ($2,182,901.37). |
The whole UK is |
This is fast becoming a sitting target |
Register for Free to get streaming real-time quotes, interactive charts, live options flow, and more.
Hot Features
Premium
