Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 1,708 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 177,022 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,708 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in GSK were worth $6,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in GSK by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,099,513 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $656,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,161 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in GSK by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 12,058,770 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $437,130,000 after acquiring an additional 287,000 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in GSK by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,079,897 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $292,896,000 after acquiring an additional 389,871 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in GSK by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,551,555 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $273,744,000 after acquiring an additional 156,480 shares during the period. Finally, Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in GSK by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,277,362 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $118,804,000 after acquiring an additional 90,579 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GSK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Guggenheim raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

GSK Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of GSK traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $41.23. 1,508,714 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,425,330. The company has a market cap of $85.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.64. GSK plc has a fifty-two week low of $33.33 and a fifty-two week high of $43.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $41.85 and its 200-day moving average is $38.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued 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 business had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.3564 dividend. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.82%.

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.