GSK (NYSE:GSK) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on GSK. Guggenheim downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut 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 report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of GSK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.25.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE:GSK opened at $33.95 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. GSK has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $45.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.64.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.3928 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 99.35%.

Insider Activity at GSK

In other GSK news, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at $134,205,528. The trade was a 19.97 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GSK. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,224,345 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 870,449 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 342,365 shares in the last quarter. Provident Trust Co. grew its stake in GSK by 1.7% during the third quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,953,602 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $161,623,000 after buying an additional 66,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 30.8% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 3,542,143 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $144,803,000 after buying an additional 833,080 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

About GSK

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.