Meridian Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) by 14.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,636 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,380 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in GSK were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of GSK by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 500,495 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $20,460,000 after purchasing an additional 83,433 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in GSK during the 2nd quarter worth about $349,000. Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in GSK by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,496,254 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $142,927,000 after acquiring an additional 63,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stockman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in GSK by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 209,517 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,565,000 after acquiring an additional 15,024 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GSK. Argus raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upgraded GSK to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Guggenheim downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value 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 approximately $134,205,528. This represents a 19.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE GSK opened at $33.96 on Monday. GSK plc has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $45.92. The stock has a market cap of $70.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a fifty day moving average of $38.09 and a 200-day moving average of $40.32. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.3928 dividend. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.35%.

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.