GSK (NYSE:GSK) Lowered to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of GSK (NYSE:GSK) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.25.

GSK Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:GSK opened at $34.08 on Tuesday. GSK has a twelve month low of $31.72 and a twelve month high of $45.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.87. The company has a market cap of $70.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.3928 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GSK

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of GSK by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 19,942 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $684,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424 shares during the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of GSK by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,524 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Kempner Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 142.7% in the 4th quarter. Kempner Capital Management Inc. now owns 183,080 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,192,000 after acquiring an additional 107,648 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its holdings in GSK by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 344,519 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,652,000 after purchasing an additional 27,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of GSK during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 15.74% of the company’s stock.

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.