GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Purchased by Primecap Management Co. CA

Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,511,390 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,773,020 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA owned 0.70% of GSK worth $558,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in GSK by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 27,254 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 1,559 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in GSK by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,347,993 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $90,398,000 after purchasing an additional 554,600 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in GSK by 33.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,256,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $86,875,000 after purchasing an additional 569,614 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in GSK during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in GSK by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 105,927 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,078,000 after purchasing an additional 10,942 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upgraded GSK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Argus upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

GSK Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GSK opened at $43.55 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $90.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.66. GSK plc has a 52-week low of $33.67 and a 52-week high of $45.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.70.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 51.48%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.3843 per share. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.71%.

About GSK

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.