Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 44,679 GSK PLC Sponsored ADR (NYSE:GSK)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GSK PLC Sponsored ADR (NYSE:GSK - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 44,679 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $1,731,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GSK. Columbia Asset Management acquired a new stake in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at $233,000. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at $528,000. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 87,630 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in GSK by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 101,039 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $3,914,000 after purchasing an additional 15,987 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in GSK by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 52,823,032 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,786,475,000 after purchasing an additional 23,814,104 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company's stock.

GSK Stock Up 1.5%

GSK stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $39.64. 2,351,235 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,943,077. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $81.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.50. GSK PLC Sponsored ADR has a 1-year low of $31.72 and a 1-year high of $44.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.19.

GSK (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $10.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. GSK had a net margin of 9.89% and a return on equity of 48.82%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that GSK PLC Sponsored ADR will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4216 per share. This represents a $1.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. This is a boost from GSK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. GSK's dividend payout ratio is 87.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $35.25 target price on the stock. 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 raised shares of GSK to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of GSK in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.38.

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.