Stock Traders Buy High Volume of GSK Call Options (NYSE:GSK)

GSK PLC Sponsored ADR (NYSE:GSK) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 122,136 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,570% compared to the average daily volume of 7,312 call options.

GSK Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of GSK traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $48.22. 2,960,557 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,164,986. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $43.31 and its 200-day moving average is $40.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.87. GSK has a fifty-two week low of $31.72 and a fifty-two week high of $48.69. The company has a market cap of $97.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.50.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.22. GSK had a net margin of 17.16% and a return on equity of 51.07%. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. GSK has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.730-4.810 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that GSK will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

GSK Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $0.4171 dividend. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GSK

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in GSK by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 78,651,833 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,046,972,000 after buying an additional 10,210,921 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of GSK by 2.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 32,227,615 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,390,944,000 after acquiring an additional 889,210 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of GSK by 1.8% during the first quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 25,708,020 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $995,929,000 after acquiring an additional 446,360 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of GSK by 2.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,722,314 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $299,163,000 after acquiring an additional 155,392 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in GSK by 5.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,581,079 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $293,692,000 after purchasing an additional 411,869 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GSK shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of GSK in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Cfra set a $53.00 target price on GSK in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised GSK from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GSK currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

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.