Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,645 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,292 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in GSK by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,185,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224,345 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in GSK by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,836,797 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $637,061,000 after purchasing an additional 259,867 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in GSK by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,853,755 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $607,222,000 after purchasing an additional 342,365 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp raised its position in GSK by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,962,581 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $134,014,000 after purchasing an additional 466,327 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in GSK by 30.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $144,803,000 after purchasing an additional 833,080 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

GSK Price Performance

NYSE GSK opened at $40.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.99. GSK plc has a 52-week low of $31.72 and a 52-week high of $45.93. The company has a market cap of $83.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 48.59%. Sell-side analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GSK shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.25.

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.