Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Cuts Stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 3.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,346 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 682 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 71.3% in the 1st quarter. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd now owns 21,141,012 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $909,063,000 after buying an additional 8,800,822 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of GSK during the fourth quarter worth $92,281,000. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its position in GSK by 670.5% in the fourth quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 2,196,000 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $81,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,911,000 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of GSK by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,511,390 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $558,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,020 shares during the period. Finally, Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its stake in GSK by 37.8% in the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 5,510,840 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $236,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512,442 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GSK Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of GSK stock opened at $40.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $41.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.66. GSK plc has a 52-week low of $33.67 and a 52-week high of $45.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.66.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. GSK had a return on equity of 51.48% and a net margin of 12.87%. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. On average, analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.3843 dividend. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GSK shares. Barclays raised 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 report on Monday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of GSK in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

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.