Truist Financial Corp Increases Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 45.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 182,684 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 57,423 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in GSK were worth $6,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GSK. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in GSK by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,185,885,000 after buying an additional 2,224,345 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 870,449 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of GSK by 30.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $144,803,000 after purchasing an additional 833,080 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY purchased a new stake in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter valued at about $23,366,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of GSK by 107.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 965,836 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $39,483,000 after purchasing an additional 500,010 shares during the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

GSK Stock Performance

Shares of GSK stock opened at $36.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.64. GSK plc has a 52-week low of $31.72 and a 52-week high of $45.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.3932 per share. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. GSK’s payout ratio is presently 93.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GSK has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim downgraded 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 target price for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on GSK in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GSK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

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.