GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) saw a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,910,000 shares, an increase of 13.1% from the August 15th total of 9,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of GSK

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GSK. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in GSK during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in GSK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of GSK in the first quarter worth $49,000. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GSK during the second quarter worth $47,000. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

GSK Price Performance

GSK stock opened at $42.55 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.82. GSK has a 1 year low of $33.67 and a 1 year high of $45.92. The company has a market capitalization of $88.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.66.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. GSK had a return on equity of 51.48% and a net margin of 12.87%. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that GSK will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.3843 per share. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GSK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on GSK in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.00.

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.