SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 25.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,918 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,674 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in GSK during the fourth quarter valued at $92,281,000. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its position in GSK by 670.5% during the fourth quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 2,196,000 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $81,384,000 after buying an additional 1,911,000 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in GSK by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,065,558 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $558,330,000 after buying an additional 1,465,165 shares during the period. Provident Trust Co. lifted its position in GSK by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,716,830 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,746,000 after buying an additional 1,297,385 shares during the period. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC lifted its position in GSK by 95.0% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 2,216,387 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $82,206,000 after buying an additional 1,079,892 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GSK. Berenberg Bank upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on GSK in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, GSK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.00.

GSK Price Performance

NYSE GSK opened at $38.46 on Friday. GSK plc has a one year low of $33.67 and a one year high of $45.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.36 and a 200 day moving average of $41.24. The company has a market capitalization of $79.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.87.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 51.54% and a net margin of 14.62%. The company had revenue of $9.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.3762 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.26%.

About GSK

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.