Taika Capital LP Purchases Shares of 25,150 GSK plc (NYSE:GSK)

Taika Capital LP bought a new position in shares of GSK plc (NYSE:GSK - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 25,150 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock, valued at approximately $1,028,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 9.7% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 604,973 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $24,731,000 after buying an additional 53,440 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 49.6% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,929 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,015,000 after buying an additional 8,266 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in GSK by 30.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $144,803,000 after purchasing an additional 833,080 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in GSK in the third quarter valued at about $331,000. Finally, Atom Investors LP acquired a new stake in GSK in the third quarter valued at about $296,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of GSK from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of GSK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of GSK from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of GSK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of GSK to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, GSK currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of GSK traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $34.54. 2,868,404 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,143,949. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.71. GSK plc has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $45.92. The company has a market cap of $71.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.64.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.3928 per share. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.55%. This is a boost from GSK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. GSK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.35%.

Insider Transactions at GSK

In other news, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,205,528. The trade was a 19.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 10.00% of the company's stock.

GSK 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.