Haverford Trust Co Lowers Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Haverford Trust Co lowered its position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,717 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,929 shares during the quarter. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in GSK were worth $2,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GSK. FMR LLC lifted its position in GSK by 8.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,185,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224,345 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 870,449 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 14.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in GSK by 61.8% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 433,628 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $17,728,000 after acquiring an additional 165,556 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in GSK by 9.7% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 604,973 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,731,000 after acquiring an additional 53,440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GSK opened at $38.58 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.84. GSK plc has a 52 week low of $31.72 and a 52 week high of $45.93. The stock has a market cap of $79.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 48.59%. As a group, research analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.3932 dividend. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. GSK’s payout ratio is presently 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.