Eastern Bank Takes Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 628 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 9.1% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,078 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 2.5% in the second quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 11,133 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of GSK by 4.7% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 6,097 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network lifted its position in shares of GSK by 4.7% in the second quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 6,359 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its position in shares of GSK by 2.2% in the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 14,231 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at GSK

In related news, major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.00 per share, for a total transaction of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,205,528. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 10.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GSK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised shares of GSK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Argus raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GSK presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $50.00.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE GSK opened at $37.52 on Friday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $41.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.14. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $33.67 and a 1 year high of $45.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 51.48%. The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.3843 dividend. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 62.10%.

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.