Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $385,000 Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,381 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,255 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 750 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 195.5% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 789 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GSK Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE GSK opened at $38.79 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.25 and a 200-day moving average of $37.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. GSK plc has a 52 week low of $31.72 and a 52 week high of $45.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.78.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 8.13%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.3932 dividend. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on GSK in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

GSK Profile

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.