Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 20.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 500,495 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 83,433 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $20,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in GSK by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 736,510 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,973,000 after acquiring an additional 56,843 shares during the period. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GSK during the second quarter worth $349,000. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in GSK by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 209,517 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,565,000 after buying an additional 15,024 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in GSK by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 23,493 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after buying an additional 3,044 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in GSK by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 236,770 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,679,000 after buying an additional 25,781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on GSK shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Guggenheim lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays raised GSK to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

GSK stock opened at $33.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.66. GSK plc has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $45.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.3928 dividend. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is 98.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of GSK stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.00 per share, for a total transaction of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,205,528. The trade was a 19.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 10.00% of the company’s stock.

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.