GSK (NYSE:GSK) Downgraded to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

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

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Guggenheim lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Argus raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays raised GSK to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.25.

GSK Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE GSK opened at $34.41 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $36.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.75. GSK has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $45.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.64. 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 Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.3928 per share. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.57%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.70%.

Insider Activity at GSK

In related news, major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.00 per share, for a total transaction of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,205,528. This represents a 19.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 10.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its position in GSK by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 20,363 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $784,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in GSK during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,775,000. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in GSK by 7.0% during the second quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 61,457 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,366,000 after acquiring an additional 4,005 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management grew its holdings in GSK by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 55,564 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after buying an additional 1,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of GSK by 7.8% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 195,367 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,522,000 after buying an additional 14,202 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.