GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Sold by Americana Partners LLC

Americana Partners LLC reduced its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 74.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,302 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 43,635 shares during the quarter. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 8.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,185,885,000 after buying an additional 2,224,345 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 4.9% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $759,425,000 after buying an additional 870,449 shares in the last quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 14.3% during the third quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 409,669 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,747,000 after buying an additional 51,378 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 61.8% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 433,628 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $17,728,000 after buying an additional 165,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 20.0% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 500,495 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,460,000 after buying an additional 83,433 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GSK Price Performance

GSK stock opened at $36.59 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.41. The stock has a market cap of $75.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64. GSK plc has a fifty-two week low of $31.72 and a fifty-two week high of $45.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 8.13%. Equities research analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.3932 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 93.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GSK shares. Guggenheim downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

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.