Northwest Bank & Trust Co Invests $874,000 in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 23,586 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $874,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its position in GSK by 8.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in GSK by 305.7% in 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 in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in GSK in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,129,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in GSK in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,024,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in GSK by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

GSK Stock Performance

Shares of GSK stock traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.65. 2,235,352 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,880,191. GSK plc has a 12 month low of $33.67 and a 12 month high of $45.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $84.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.66.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $9.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that GSK plc will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.3762 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GSK. The Goldman Sachs Group began 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 raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.00.

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.