Pitcairn Co. Buys New Shares in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Pitcairn Co. bought a new position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,994 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 71.3% in the 1st quarter. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd now owns 21,141,012 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $909,063,000 after purchasing an additional 8,800,822 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of GSK by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,065,558 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $558,330,000 after buying an additional 1,465,165 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 12,089,370 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $448,032,000 after acquiring an additional 30,600 shares during the period. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 37.8% during the 1st quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 5,510,840 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $236,250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,512,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. raised its stake in GSK by 53.6% in the 4th quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,716,830 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,297,385 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

GSK Price Performance

NYSE:GSK traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $39.07. 2,479,590 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,517,753. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.00 and a 200 day moving average of $41.41. GSK plc has a 1-year low of $33.67 and a 1-year high of $45.92. 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 company has a market capitalization of $80.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.64.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $9.34 billion for 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%. Research analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.3762 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is 54.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.