GSK plc (GSK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.38 on October 10th

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 31st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of 0.3843 per share by the pharmaceutical company on Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38.

GSK has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 18.2% annually over the last three years. GSK has a dividend payout ratio of 33.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect GSK to earn $4.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.3%.

GSK Stock Performance

Shares of GSK stock opened at $39.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $82.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.87. GSK has a 52 week low of $33.67 and a 52 week high of $45.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.39.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $9.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.98 billion. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 52.40%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that GSK will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GSK shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, GSK presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $50.00.

GSK Company Profile

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.