GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Sold by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management lessened its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,047 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 994 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in GSK were worth $2,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cultivar Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter valued at $231,000. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of GSK by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 80,437 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after acquiring an additional 9,320 shares during the period. Abundance Wealth Counselors raised its stake in shares of GSK by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors now owns 18,473 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of GSK by 189.1% in the 4th quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 1,619 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059 shares during the period. Finally, Alaska Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter valued at $316,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GSK. Guggenheim raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, GSK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

GSK Stock Down 0.3 %

GSK stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $42.86. 1,854,652 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,572,673. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $33.33 and a 1 year high of $43.84. The firm has a market cap of $88.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.35.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.79 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.45% and a net margin of 16.24%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that GSK plc will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.3564 per share. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 22nd. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.82%.

About GSK

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.