Stephens Inc. AR Buys 3,472 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,932 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,472 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in GSK were worth $1,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of GSK by 8.3% during the third 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 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 acquiring an additional 870,449 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 30.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $144,803,000 after purchasing an additional 833,080 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP increased its holdings in GSK by 107.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 965,836 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $39,483,000 after buying an additional 500,010 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 420.1% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 564,934 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $23,095,000 after purchasing an additional 456,319 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE:GSK opened at $36.15 on Thursday. GSK plc has a 1-year low of $31.72 and a 1-year high of $45.92. The firm has a market cap of $74.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.51.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.3932 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.08%.

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.