Plc Gsk Buys 2,791,930 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Stock

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) major shareholder Plc Gsk purchased 2,791,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,205,528. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GSK traded down $0.58 on Tuesday, reaching $40.30. 3,120,440 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,555,531. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.57 and a 200-day moving average of $41.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $83.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.66. GSK plc has a 1-year low of $33.67 and a 1-year high of $45.92.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.3843 per share. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. GSK’s payout ratio is 54.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GSK

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of GSK in the first quarter worth $31,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in GSK in the second quarter valued at $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of GSK during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. PrairieView Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GSK in the second quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in GSK in the second quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GSK shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Berenberg Bank raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Argus upgraded shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.00.

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.