EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 2,755 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 24.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,846 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,755 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter worth $119,000. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of GSK by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 10,104 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in GSK by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 32,122 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,281,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in GSK by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 11,513 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. bought a new stake in GSK during the 4th quarter worth about $315,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GSK currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

GSK Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE GSK traded up $0.79 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.86. 3,060,994 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,514,559. GSK plc has a 12 month low of $33.67 and a 12 month high of $45.92. The company has a market capitalization of $82.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.64. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.40.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $9.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.54% and a net margin of 14.62%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $0.3762 dividend. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 54.71%.

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.