GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Acquired by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 4.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,128 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,078 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in GSK were worth $1,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd increased its position in shares of GSK by 71.3% in the first quarter. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd now owns 21,141,012 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $909,063,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800,822 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter valued at about $92,281,000. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of GSK by 670.5% in the fourth quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 2,196,000 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $81,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,000 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,065,558 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $558,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465,165 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 53.6% during the 4th quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,716,830 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,746,000 after buying an additional 1,297,385 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GSK shares. Citigroup raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of GSK in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

GSK Price Performance

NYSE GSK opened at $38.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.22. GSK plc has a twelve month low of $33.67 and a twelve month high of $45.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.87.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 51.54% and a net margin of 14.62%. The company had revenue of $9.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. Research analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.3762 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is 53.26%.

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.