First City Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

First City Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,708 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,991 shares during the quarter. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in GSK were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in GSK by 1.1% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of GSK by 1,598.7% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,582 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 2,430 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in GSK by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 64,336 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,451,000 after buying an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in GSK by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 117,503 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,355,000 after buying an additional 3,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Planning Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in GSK in the fourth quarter valued at about $200,000. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GSK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised GSK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, GSK currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $50.00.

GSK Price Performance

NYSE:GSK opened at $40.80 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.69. The firm has a market cap of $84.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.82. GSK plc has a one year low of $33.67 and a one year high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.48% and a net margin of 12.87%. Research analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $0.3843 dividend. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 54.71%.

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.