Short Interest in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Drops By 11.4%

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 10,360,000 shares, a decrease of 11.4% from the September 15th total of 11,690,000 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,820,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Insider Activity at GSK

In other GSK news, major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.00 per share, for a total transaction of $22,335,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,205,528. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 10.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GSK

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in GSK by 9.1% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,078 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of GSK by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 11,133 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in GSK by 4.7% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 6,097 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network increased its stake in GSK by 4.7% during the second quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 6,359 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. raised its position in GSK by 2.2% during the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 14,231 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $610,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GSK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised GSK to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Berenberg Bank raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup upgraded GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

GSK Price Performance

GSK traded up $0.08 on Tuesday, hitting $39.21. 2,128,322 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,717,238. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. GSK has a one year low of $33.67 and a one year high of $45.92. The firm has a market cap of $81.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.65.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 51.48%. The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that GSK will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.3843 per share. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is 55.80%.

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.