TIAA Trust National Association Sells 319 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

TIAA Trust National Association lowered its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,736 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 319 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in GSK were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co boosted its position in shares of GSK by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 750 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of GSK by 195.5% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 789 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 73.8% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of GSK during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

GSK Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:GSK opened at $38.74 on Friday. GSK plc has a 12 month low of $31.72 and a 12 month high of $45.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $37.22 and its 200 day moving average is $36.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 8.13%. Sell-side analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.3932 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is 98.74%.

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.