GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Bought by Ledyard National Bank

Ledyard National Bank grew its holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 58.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 38,544 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,263 shares during the quarter. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in GSK were worth $1,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GSK. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in GSK during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 73.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in GSK in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in GSK by 231.8% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 783 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in GSK by 195.5% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 789 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

GSK Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of GSK opened at $36.38 on Friday. GSK plc has a twelve month low of $31.72 and a twelve month high of $45.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.60.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 50.62% and a net margin of 7.97%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that GSK plc will post 3.92 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 paid a dividend of $0.3932 per share. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 96.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GSK. StockNews.com downgraded shares of GSK from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Guggenheim lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.25.

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.