GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Sold by Optimist Retirement Group LLC

Optimist Retirement Group LLC cut its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 34.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 32,416 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 17,138 shares during the quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $1,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GSK. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of GSK by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,185,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224,345 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 4.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $759,425,000 after buying an additional 870,449 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of GSK by 14.3% in the third quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 409,669 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,747,000 after acquiring an additional 51,378 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 61.8% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 433,628 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $17,728,000 after acquiring an additional 165,556 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of GSK by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 500,495 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,460,000 after acquiring an additional 83,433 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GSK Trading Up 8.1 %

NYSE:GSK opened at $37.67 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. GSK plc has a 52 week low of $31.72 and a 52 week high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 50.62%. On average, research analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GSK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of GSK from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.