GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Shares Sold by Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 11.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 259,953 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 34,291 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in GSK were worth $11,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GSK. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in GSK by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 528,658 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $19,164,000 after buying an additional 19,889 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in GSK by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 160,159 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,806,000 after buying an additional 8,327 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in GSK by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 21,458 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 2,536 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in GSK during the 3rd quarter worth $268,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in GSK by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 21,922 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 7,138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GSK. Citigroup upgraded shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of GSK in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, GSK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

GSK Price Performance

NYSE:GSK traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.50. 4,048,068 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,498,257. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.14. GSK plc has a 1 year low of $33.33 and a 1 year high of $43.84. The company has a market cap of $90.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.65.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.04). GSK had a net margin of 14.62% and a return on equity of 51.54%. The business had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.79 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that GSK plc will post 4.13 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.3762 per share. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.61%.

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.