Blair William & Co. IL Sells 3,291 Shares of GSK PLC Sponsored ADR (NYSE:GSK)

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its position in GSK PLC Sponsored ADR (NYSE:GSK) by 15.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,440 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,291 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in GSK were worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 68,440,912 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,314,672,000 after buying an additional 353,749 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,566,922 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $255,914,000 after buying an additional 35,134 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 5,838,384 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $205,920,000 after buying an additional 874,004 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 4,174,189 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $161,708,000 after buying an additional 211,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,598,570 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $87,884,000 after buying an additional 18,492 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

GSK Stock Performance

Shares of GSK stock opened at $37.76 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.86. GSK PLC Sponsored ADR has a 52 week low of $31.72 and a 52 week high of $44.67.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.11. GSK had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 49.22%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. GSK’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that GSK PLC Sponsored ADR will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4206 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GSK shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 3rd. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of GSK in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of GSK to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of GSK in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $35.25 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GSK currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.38.

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.