Keybank National Association OH Lowers Stock Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Keybank National Association OH reduced its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,478 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 624 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH’s holdings in GSK were worth $693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GSK. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,224,345 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of GSK by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $759,425,000 after buying an additional 870,449 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of GSK by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $144,803,000 after buying an additional 833,080 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY purchased a new position in GSK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,366,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its holdings in GSK by 107.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 965,836 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $39,483,000 after purchasing an additional 500,010 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on GSK shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE:GSK opened at $40.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.52. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $31.72 and a 1 year high of $45.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.17. The company has a market cap of $83.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.3932 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 98.74%.

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.