Brandes Investment Partners LP Acquires 283,352 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Brandes Investment Partners LP increased its holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,361,209 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 283,352 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned about 0.07% of GSK worth $46,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GSK. United Bank increased its holdings in GSK by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 25,785 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after buying an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in GSK by 137.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 19,795 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 11,448 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in GSK by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 2,365 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in GSK by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 112,395 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,595,000 after buying an additional 6,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in GSK by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 66,645 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,724,000 after buying an additional 4,204 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

GSK Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GSK opened at $39.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.05 and a 200 day moving average of $37.11. The company has a market cap of $81.94 billion, a PE ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. GSK plc has a 12-month low of $31.72 and a 12-month high of $45.93.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.3932 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. 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 3.98%. GSK’s payout ratio is 98.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GSK shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com upgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GSK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.25.

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.