Royal Bank of Canada Decreases Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,169,210 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,679 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in GSK were worth $242,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in GSK by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 68,440,912 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,314,672,000 after acquiring an additional 353,749 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in GSK by 82.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 52,823,032 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,786,475,000 after acquiring an additional 23,814,104 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in GSK by 70.1% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 25,261,660 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $854,349,000 after acquiring an additional 10,407,905 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in GSK by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,836,797 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $637,061,000 after acquiring an additional 259,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in GSK by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,566,922 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $255,914,000 after acquiring an additional 35,134 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GSK. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $35.25 target price on the stock. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of GSK to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.58.

GSK Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE GSK opened at $37.64 on Friday. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $31.72 and a 1 year high of $45.80. The stock has a market cap of $77.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.39 and a 200 day moving average of $35.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. GSK had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 48.59%. The company had revenue of $10.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. GSK’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4216 per share. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.60%.

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.