Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Makes New $692,000 Investment in GSK PLC Sponsored ADR (NYSE:GSK)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of GSK PLC Sponsored ADR (NYSE:GSK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 17,857 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. Columbia Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of GSK during the fourth quarter worth $233,000. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of GSK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $528,000. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 42.3% during the 4th quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 294,820 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $9,971,000 after buying an additional 87,630 shares during the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of GSK by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 216,000 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $7,305,000 after buying an additional 17,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in shares of GSK by 18.8% in the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 101,039 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,914,000 after buying an additional 15,987 shares during the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on GSK shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of GSK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded GSK to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Berenberg Bank reissued a "hold" rating on shares of GSK in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of GSK in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $35.25 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.38.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE:GSK traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.79. The stock had a trading volume of 1,071,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,905,366. GSK PLC Sponsored ADR has a 52 week low of $31.72 and a 52 week high of $44.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

GSK (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 48.82% and a net margin of 9.89%. The firm had revenue of $10.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that GSK PLC Sponsored ADR will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4216 per share. This is a boost from GSK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. GSK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.11%.

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.