Sanctuary Advisors LLC Invests $11.18 Million in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 271,983 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,181,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,633 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in GSK by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,031,667 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,234,000 after buying an additional 41,632 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of GSK by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 30,996 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after buying an additional 887 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 175,787 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,515,000 after acquiring an additional 9,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GSK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of GSK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, GSK presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.00.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GSK opened at $38.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.53. GSK plc has a fifty-two week low of $33.67 and a fifty-two week high of $45.92. The company has a market capitalization of $79.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.82.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. GSK had a return on equity of 51.48% and a net margin of 12.87%. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $0.3843 dividend. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. GSK’s payout ratio is presently 54.71%.

Insider Activity at GSK

In other news, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,205,528. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.