SG Americas Securities LLC Buys New Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 3,224 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in GSK by 2,816.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 700 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in GSK in the second quarter worth $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in GSK by 271.8% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 885 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in GSK in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in GSK by 52.9% in the first quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,090 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

GSK Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE GSK opened at $39.28 on Friday. GSK plc has a 12 month low of $33.33 and a 12 month high of $43.84. The stock has a market cap of $81.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $41.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.04). GSK had a return on equity of 51.45% and a net margin of 16.24%. The company had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.79 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.3564 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GSK. Guggenheim upgraded GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GSK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.