GSK (NYSE:GSK) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of GSK (NYSE:GSK) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Friday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Guggenheim cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut 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 note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Stock Down 1.0 %

GSK opened at $36.03 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.25 and a 200 day moving average of $37.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. GSK has a 12 month low of $31.72 and a 12 month high of $45.92. The company has a market cap of $74.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.64.

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

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.3932 dividend. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is 93.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GSK

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GSK. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of GSK by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,185,885,000 after buying an additional 2,224,345 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in GSK by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,836,797 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $637,061,000 after purchasing an additional 259,867 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in GSK by 2.4% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,853,755 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $607,222,000 after purchasing an additional 342,365 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,962,581 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $134,014,000 after purchasing an additional 466,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,953,602 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $161,623,000 after purchasing an additional 66,765 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by 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.