GSK Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:GSK)

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 26,518 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 326% compared to the average volume of 6,227 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on GSK shares. Argus upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays upgraded GSK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.25.

GSK Trading Down 0.3 %

GSK opened at $33.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $69.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.66. GSK has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $45.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.49.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.3928 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.71%. GSK’s payout ratio is 99.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,205,528. This represents a 19.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GSK

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Second Line Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of GSK during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $245,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in GSK by 6.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 5,608 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in GSK by 36.9% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 12,422 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in GSK by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 10,599 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.