Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,653 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 5,608 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in GSK were worth $3,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GSK. United Bank lifted its position in shares of GSK by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 25,785 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of GSK by 137.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 19,795 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $809,000 after buying an additional 11,448 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of GSK by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 2,365 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of GSK by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 112,395 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,595,000 after buying an additional 6,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of GSK by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 66,645 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after buying an additional 4,204 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on GSK shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE:GSK opened at $39.54 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.06. The company has a market cap of $81.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.86, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. GSK’s 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.