US Bancorp DE Reduces Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

US Bancorp DE decreased its holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 31.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 161,398 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 75,372 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in GSK were worth $5,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,836,797 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $637,061,000 after purchasing an additional 259,867 shares during the last quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. grew its holdings in GSK by 404.6% in the 4th quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. now owns 315,933 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $10,685,000 after buying an additional 253,320 shares in the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of GSK by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 216,000 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,305,000 after acquiring an additional 17,578 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 470.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 992 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares during the period. Finally, AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 62,531 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,115,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GSK. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. 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

Shares of GSK stock opened at $38.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $79.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.18. GSK plc has a one year low of $31.72 and a one year high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 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 research analysts predict that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.3932 dividend. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. 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.