Short Interest in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Grows By 59.7%

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,550,000 shares, an increase of 59.7% from the September 30th total of 10,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Plc Gsk purchased 2,791,930 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $8.00 per share, for a total transaction of $22,335,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at $134,205,528. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 10.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of GSK

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in GSK during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in GSK during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in GSK by 231.8% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 783 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in GSK during the second quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in GSK during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GSK. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised GSK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group lowered GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Argus raised GSK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

GSK Stock Performance

Shares of GSK stock opened at $37.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $77.76 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. GSK has a 12 month low of $33.67 and a 12 month high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.48% and a net margin of 12.87%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that GSK will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.3843 dividend. This represents a $1.54 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.10%.

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.