GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Position Reduced by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. lowered its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 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 modified their holdings of GSK. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of GSK by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in GSK by 2.0% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,693 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $682,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in GSK by 6.3% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 5,608 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in GSK by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,559 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bond & Devick Financial Network Inc. increased its position in shares of GSK by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bond & Devick Financial Network Inc. now owns 7,830 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

GSK Stock Performance

GSK stock opened at $36.59 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $75.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64. GSK plc has a fifty-two week low of $31.72 and a fifty-two week high of $45.92. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.41.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 48.59%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that GSK plc will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

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

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.