GSK (NYSE:GSK) Research Coverage Started at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of GSK (NYSE:GSK) in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating on the pharmaceutical company’s stock.

GSK has been the topic of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE GSK opened at $36.20 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.49. GSK has a 52-week low of $31.72 and a 52-week high of $45.92. The firm has a market cap of $75.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 48.59%. Equities analysts predict that GSK will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.3932 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. GSK’s payout ratio is 98.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GSK

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co increased its position in shares of GSK by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 750 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of GSK during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of GSK during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of GSK by 195.5% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 789 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of GSK by 73.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during 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.