Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 107,529 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 844,039 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 107,529 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in GSK were worth $28,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GSK. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co increased its stake in shares of GSK by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 750 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of GSK in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of GSK by 195.5% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 789 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of GSK by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE GSK opened at $36.20 on Friday. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $31.72 and a 1 year high of $45.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $75.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.49.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that GSK plc will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.3932 dividend. 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 4.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. GSK’s payout ratio is 98.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GSK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Guggenheim lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.