Foundry Partners LLC trimmed its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK – Free Report) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 222,589 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 27,560 shares during the quarter. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $8,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Callahan Advisors LLC bought a new position in GSK in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,119,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 3,961 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 305.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 118,233 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,383,000 after acquiring an additional 89,089 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 76,840 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,785,000 after acquiring an additional 14,689 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of GSK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,024,000. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim upgraded GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup upgraded GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on GSK in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.
GSK Stock Performance
NYSE:GSK traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.75. 1,623,882 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,849,690. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.88. GSK plc has a fifty-two week low of $33.33 and a fifty-two week high of $43.84.
GSK (NYSE:GSK – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.79 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.45% and a net margin of 16.24%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.
GSK Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.3564 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. 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.