GSK Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:GSK)

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors acquired 10,999 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 53% compared to the average daily volume of 7,195 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GSK

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GSK. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of GSK by 2,816.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 700 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the period. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of GSK during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of GSK during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in GSK in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in GSK by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,327 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of GSK opened at $38.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $79.18 billion, a PE ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.24. GSK has a 1-year low of $33.67 and a 1-year high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 14.62% and a return on equity of 51.54%. The firm had revenue of $9.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.98 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that GSK will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.3762 per share. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. GSK’s payout ratio is presently 53.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup upgraded shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GSK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.00.

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.