GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Sold by Marks Group Wealth Management Inc

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc decreased its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,488 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 5,250 shares during the quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in GSK were worth $1,612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,099,513 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $656,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,161 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in GSK by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 12,058,770 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $437,130,000 after purchasing an additional 287,000 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in GSK by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,079,897 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $292,896,000 after purchasing an additional 389,871 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in GSK by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,551,555 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $273,744,000 after acquiring an additional 156,480 shares during the period. Finally, Equity Investment Corp boosted its position in GSK by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,277,362 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $118,804,000 after acquiring an additional 90,579 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GSK. Guggenheim upgraded GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup raised GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on GSK in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

GSK Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of GSK stock traded up $0.55 on Tuesday, reaching $41.14. 1,283,992 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,457,616. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $41.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. GSK plc has a fifty-two week low of $33.33 and a fifty-two week high of $43.84.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.79 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.45% and a net margin of 16.24%. On average, analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.3564 per share. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. GSK’s payout ratio is presently 52.82%.

GSK Company 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.