Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD Purchases Shares of 115,385 GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD purchased a new stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 115,385 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,971,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 8.3% in 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 increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,836,797 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $637,061,000 after buying an additional 259,867 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,853,755 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $607,222,000 after buying an additional 342,365 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,962,581 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $134,014,000 after buying an additional 466,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $144,803,000 after buying an additional 833,080 shares during the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GSK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com raised 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, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GSK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

GSK stock opened at $39.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $81.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.52. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $31.72 and a 1 year high of $45.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $35.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.10.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.