GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Bought by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 33.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,256,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 569,614 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.11% of GSK worth $86,875,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in GSK during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of GSK in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in GSK in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. PrairieView Partners LLC bought a new stake in GSK in the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in GSK during the 2nd quarter valued at about $49,000. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GSK. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised shares of GSK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Citigroup raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GSK has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

GSK Price Performance

NYSE GSK opened at $40.56 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.65. The company has a market cap of $84.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.66. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $33.67 and a 1 year high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 51.48%. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that GSK plc will post 4.17 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.3843 dividend. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.71%.

GSK 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.