Foundry Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Foundry Partners LLC lowered its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 222,589 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 27,560 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $8,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $232,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in GSK by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 29,913 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares during the period. abrdn plc purchased a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,551,000. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in GSK by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 88,740 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,289,000 after purchasing an additional 12,160 shares during the period. Finally, Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in GSK by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC now owns 234,116 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GSK shares. Citigroup upgraded GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Guggenheim upgraded GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

GSK Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of GSK traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,623,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,849,690. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.83. GSK plc has a 52 week low of $33.33 and a 52 week high of $43.84. The company has a market capitalization of $82.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.64.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.3564 dividend. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 52.82%.

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.