GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 283,462 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 70,763 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $9,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in GSK by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,185,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224,345 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in GSK by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,836,797 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $637,061,000 after purchasing an additional 259,867 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of GSK by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,853,755 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $607,222,000 after acquiring an additional 342,365 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,962,581 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $134,014,000 after acquiring an additional 466,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 30.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $144,803,000 after acquiring an additional 833,080 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GSK Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GSK opened at $40.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. GSK plc has a 1-year low of $31.72 and a 1-year high of $45.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.99.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.3932 per share. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GSK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.