GSK (NYSE:GSK) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of GSK (NYSE:GSK) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GSK. Barclays raised shares of GSK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Guggenheim cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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 report on Tuesday, November 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

GSK stock opened at $34.58 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.71. GSK has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $45.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.64.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.3928 per share. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. This is an increase 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 is 99.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,205,528. This trade represents a 19.97 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 10.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GSK. FMR LLC increased its position in GSK by 8.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,185,885,000 after buying an additional 2,224,345 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in GSK by 4.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $759,425,000 after buying an additional 870,449 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in GSK by 2.4% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,853,755 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $607,222,000 after buying an additional 342,365 shares in the last quarter. Provident Trust Co. increased its position in GSK by 1.7% in the third quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,953,602 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $161,623,000 after buying an additional 66,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $144,803,000 after buying an additional 833,080 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.