Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,865 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 1,673 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $1,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position 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 increased its position 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. Clifford Capital Partners LLC increased its position in GSK by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 409,669 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,747,000 after purchasing an additional 51,378 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in GSK by 61.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 433,628 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $17,728,000 after purchasing an additional 165,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in GSK by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 500,495 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $20,460,000 after purchasing an additional 83,433 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GSK opened at $40.30 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $36.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. GSK plc has a 12-month low of $31.72 and a 12-month high of $45.93. The firm has a market cap of $83.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.3932 dividend. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.