GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Short Interest Update

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,350,000 shares, a growth of 52.2% from the March 31st total of 4,830,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Guggenheim raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Institutional Trading of GSK

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NORTHSTAR ASSET MANAGEMENT Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the first quarter valued at about $226,000. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of GSK by 44.5% in the first quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 216,450 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,831,000 after acquiring an additional 66,632 shares during the period. BayBridge Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the first quarter valued at about $410,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of GSK in the first quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Bond & Devick Financial Network Inc. increased its position in shares of GSK by 12.4% in the first quarter. Bond & Devick Financial Network Inc. now owns 6,910 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

GSK Trading Up 1.3 %

GSK stock traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $41.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,241,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,448,776. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $86.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.01. GSK has a 12 month low of $33.33 and a 12 month high of $43.84.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.79 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.45% and a net margin of 16.24%. As a group, analysts forecast that GSK will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.3564 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. GSK’s payout ratio is currently 52.82%.

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.