Sanctuary Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 254,072 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 18,488 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $8,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in GSK by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,185,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224,345 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in GSK by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $759,425,000 after purchasing an additional 870,449 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in GSK by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,853,755 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $607,222,000 after acquiring an additional 342,365 shares during the last quarter. Provident Trust Co. increased its stake in GSK by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,953,602 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $161,623,000 after acquiring an additional 66,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in GSK by 30.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $144,803,000 after acquiring an additional 833,080 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of GSK stock opened at $36.59 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.84 billion, a PE ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $34.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.41. GSK plc has a 12 month low of $31.72 and a 12 month high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 8.13%. Sell-side analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.3932 per share. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GSK shares. Guggenheim lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com upgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

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.