Farmers Trust Co. Sells 2,596 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Farmers Trust Co. reduced its position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 34.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,880 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,596 shares during the quarter. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in GSK were worth $209,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GSK. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its position in shares of GSK by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 3,961 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of GSK by 305.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 118,233 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,383,000 after acquiring an additional 89,089 shares during the period. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of GSK during the 4th quarter valued at $1,129,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of GSK by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,777,695 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,883,000 after acquiring an additional 18,585 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of GSK during the 4th quarter valued at $7,024,000. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, GSK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.00.

GSK Stock Performance

GSK opened at $40.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.03. GSK plc has a 1-year low of $33.67 and a 1-year high of $45.92. The company has a market cap of $84.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.66.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 14.62% and a return on equity of 51.54%. The firm had revenue of $9.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. On average, analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.3762 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.26%.

GSK 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.