GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. cut its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,084 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 19,561 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in GSK were worth $1,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,185,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224,345 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $759,425,000 after purchasing an additional 870,449 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 409,669 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $16,747,000 after purchasing an additional 51,378 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 61.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 433,628 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $17,728,000 after purchasing an additional 165,556 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 500,495 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,460,000 after purchasing an additional 83,433 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on GSK in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Performance

Shares of GSK stock opened at $37.97 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $78.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.20. GSK plc has a 12-month low of $31.72 and a 12-month high of $45.92. 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 (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, equities analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.3932 per share. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is 98.74%.

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.