Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Reduces Stock Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC reduced its holdings in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,643 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 644 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of GSK by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,099,513 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $656,107,000 after buying an additional 1,291,161 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 287,000 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 389,871 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of GSK by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,551,555 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $273,744,000 after buying an additional 156,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in shares of GSK by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,277,362 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $118,804,000 after buying an additional 90,579 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GSK opened at $41.24 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $41.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.70, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.64. GSK plc has a one year low of $33.33 and a one year high of $43.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

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