GSK (NYSE:GSK) Sees Strong Trading Volume – What’s Next?

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . Approximately 3,507,937 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 13% from the previous session’s volume of 4,039,613 shares.The stock last traded at $32.99 and had previously closed at $34.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GSK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays upgraded GSK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Guggenheim lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus upgraded 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 lowered their target price for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $69.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.37, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.3928 dividend. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.72%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of GSK stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in GSK by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,008,928 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,185,885,000 after acquiring an additional 2,224,345 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of GSK by 4.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,576,930 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $759,425,000 after purchasing an additional 870,449 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of GSK by 2.4% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,853,755 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $607,222,000 after purchasing an additional 342,365 shares during the last quarter. Provident Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of GSK by 1.7% during 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. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of GSK by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $144,803,000 after purchasing an additional 833,080 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

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.