Short Interest in GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Decreases By 19.4%

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,050,000 shares, a decrease of 19.4% from the January 31st total of 17,430,000 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 4,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Institutional Trading of GSK

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in GSK in the fourth quarter worth $310,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. bought a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $390,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,730,000. Brucke Financial Inc. bought a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $465,000. Finally, Yoffe Investment Management LLC bought a new position in GSK during the 4th quarter valued at about $462,000. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GSK shares. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised GSK from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GSK traded up $0.58 on Tuesday, reaching $38.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,987,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,925,574. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $79.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.18, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.58. GSK has a 52-week low of $31.72 and a 52-week high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 8.13%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that GSK will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.3932 per share. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. GSK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.74%.

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.