Short Interest in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Increases By 7.1%

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,690,000 shares, a growth of 7.1% from the August 31st total of 10,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,610,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GSK. Citigroup raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Argus upgraded shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. UBS Group lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays raised GSK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, GSK presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $50.00.

GSK Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE GSK opened at $40.74 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.66. GSK has a 52 week low of $33.67 and a 52 week high of $45.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 51.48%. Equities research analysts anticipate that GSK will post 4.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.3843 per share. This represents a $1.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. GSK’s payout ratio is presently 54.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GSK. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in GSK in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GSK in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of GSK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. PrairieView Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of GSK during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of GSK during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 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.