Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Acquires 2,185 Shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 96.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,455 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 2,185 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in GSK were worth $191,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of GSK by 2,816.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 700 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the period. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of GSK in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in GSK in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of GSK by 54.3% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 1,515 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GSK. Guggenheim upgraded shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Berenberg Bank raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.00.

GSK Price Performance

GSK traded down $0.31 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.07. 1,354,695 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,637,633. The company has a market cap of $78.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.64. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $33.67 and a 1 year high of $45.92. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.23.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $9.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.54% and a net margin of 14.62%. As a group, 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. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.3762 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.26%.

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.