GSK Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GSK)

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 25,931 call options on the company. This is an increase of 446% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,748 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other GSK news, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of GSK stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,205,528. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GSK

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eastern Bank bought a new position in GSK during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in GSK during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in GSK during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. PrairieView Partners LLC purchased a new stake in GSK during the second quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in GSK during the second quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on GSK. Barclays upgraded shares of GSK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Argus upgraded shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.00.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE GSK opened at $37.96 on Thursday. GSK has a 1 year low of $33.67 and a 1 year high of $45.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $78.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.19.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 51.48%. The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that GSK will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.3843 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.80%.

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.