Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp Sells 1,624 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp decreased its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,128 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,624 shares during the period. Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp’s holdings in GSK were worth $241,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,224,345 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $759,425,000 after acquiring an additional 870,449 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $144,803,000 after acquiring an additional 833,080 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY acquired a new position in shares of GSK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,366,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 107.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 965,836 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $39,483,000 after acquiring an additional 500,010 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GSK shares. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on GSK in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective 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 research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GSK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of GSK stock opened at $38.79 on Thursday. 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 plc has a twelve month low of $31.72 and a twelve month high of $45.92. The company has a market cap of $80.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.20.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.74%.

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.