Principal Securities Inc. Cuts Stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Principal Securities Inc. cut its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,151 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 5,374 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in GSK were worth $1,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 20,703 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 4,576 shares during the last quarter. Figure 8 Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter worth $489,000. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in GSK by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,802 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in GSK by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 844,039 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,545,000 after acquiring an additional 107,529 shares during the period. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its position in GSK by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

GSK Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE GSK opened at $36.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $75.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. GSK plc has a 52 week low of $31.72 and a 52 week high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 48.59%. Equities research analysts predict that GSK plc will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.3932 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GSK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.25.

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.