Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Purchases New Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,084 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GSK. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co increased its holdings in GSK by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 750 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its holdings in GSK by 195.5% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 789 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in GSK by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on GSK shares. StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GSK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Performance

Shares of GSK opened at $39.47 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $35.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.10. GSK plc has a 52 week low of $31.72 and a 52 week high of $45.93. The stock has a market cap of $81.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

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

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.