Voya Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Voya Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 43.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,570 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 6,675 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. FMR LLC raised its holdings in GSK by 82.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 52,823,032 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,786,475,000 after purchasing an additional 23,814,104 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its holdings in GSK by 70.1% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 25,261,660 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $854,349,000 after purchasing an additional 10,407,905 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in GSK by 132.7% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 2,247,691 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $76,017,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,855 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its holdings in GSK by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 5,838,384 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $205,920,000 after purchasing an additional 874,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY bought a new position in GSK in the fourth quarter worth $23,366,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GSK. Hsbc Global Res upgraded GSK to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com upgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. BNP Paribas began coverage on GSK in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $35.25 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on GSK in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.58.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GSK opened at $37.34 on Tuesday. GSK plc has a 1-year low of $31.72 and a 1-year high of $45.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $37.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.97. The company has a market capitalization of $77.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.49, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.51.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. GSK had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 8.13%. The firm had revenue of $10.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4216 dividend. This represents a $1.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.52%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.60%.

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.