Brandes Investment Partners LP Boosts Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 26.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,361,209 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 283,352 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in GSK were worth $46,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its holdings in GSK by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 750 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of GSK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 195.5% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 789 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GSK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on GSK in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE:GSK opened at $39.54 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.05 and its 200 day moving average is $37.11. GSK plc has a fifty-two week low of $31.72 and a fifty-two week high of $45.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.94 billion, a PE ratio of 24.86, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.78.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.3932 dividend. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is 98.74%.

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.