Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 107,529 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 844,039 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 107,529 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in GSK were worth $28,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,224,345 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in GSK by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $759,425,000 after buying an additional 870,449 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in GSK by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 409,669 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $16,747,000 after buying an additional 51,378 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in GSK by 61.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 433,628 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $17,728,000 after buying an additional 165,556 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 83,433 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GSK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, GSK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:GSK opened at $36.20 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.53. GSK plc has a one year low of $31.72 and a one year high of $45.92. The company has a market cap of $75.02 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its 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 8.13% and a return on equity of 48.59%. On average, research analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s payout ratio is 98.74%.

GSK Company 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.