UBS Group Lowers GSK (NYSE:GSK) to Neutral

UBS Group downgraded shares of GSK (NYSE:GSK) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GSK. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on GSK in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. They set a neutral rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on GSK from $52.50 to $53.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Citigroup raised GSK to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised GSK to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $50.00.

GSK Stock Performance

Shares of GSK stock opened at $38.56 on Monday. GSK has a one year low of $33.67 and a one year high of $45.92. The company has a market cap of $79.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.97, a PEG ratio of 1.17 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.31.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $9.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.98 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.54% and a net margin of 14.62%. On average, research analysts predict that GSK will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.3762 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. GSK’s payout ratio is presently 53.26%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GSK. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in GSK by 2,816.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 700 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in GSK during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in GSK during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in GSK during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in GSK during the 1st quarter worth about $49,000. 15.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.