GSK’s (GSK) Buy Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of GSK (NYSE:GSK) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of GSK in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.38.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE:GSK opened at $45.91 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.59. GSK has a twelve month low of $31.72 and a twelve month high of $46.87. The company has a market capitalization of $93.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.53.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.92 billion. GSK had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 49.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that GSK will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4206 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 78.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GSK. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the fourth quarter valued at $528,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 107.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,447 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,307 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 100.3% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 12.8% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,294 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 2,649 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the first quarter valued at $374,000. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.