GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Bought by Primecap Management Co. CA

Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,089,370 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,600 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA owned about 0.59% of GSK worth $448,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in GSK by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,099,513 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $656,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,161 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of GSK by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,065,558 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $558,330,000 after buying an additional 1,465,165 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in GSK by 5.1% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,079,897 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $292,896,000 after acquiring an additional 389,871 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in GSK by 2.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,551,555 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $273,744,000 after acquiring an additional 156,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. grew its holdings in GSK by 53.6% during the 4th quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,716,830 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $137,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,297,385 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GSK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup raised GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

GSK Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of GSK stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $45.12. The company had a trading volume of 2,208,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,538,486. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $42.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.13. The company has a market cap of $93.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.65. GSK plc has a twelve month low of $33.33 and a twelve month high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 14.62% and a return on equity of 51.54%. The company had revenue of $9.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. Analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.3762 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 53.26%.

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.