Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of GSK Put Options (NYSE:GSK)

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 11,285 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 184% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,973 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GSK shares. Guggenheim raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of GSK in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, GSK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GSK

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GSK. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd lifted its stake in shares of GSK by 71.3% in the first quarter. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd now owns 21,141,012 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $909,063,000 after buying an additional 8,800,822 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of GSK by 7.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,099,513 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $656,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,161 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in GSK by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 15,065,558 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $558,330,000 after buying an additional 1,465,165 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in GSK by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 12,089,370 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $448,032,000 after buying an additional 30,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in GSK by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,079,897 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $292,896,000 after buying an additional 389,871 shares in the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GSK Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of GSK stock opened at $40.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.86. GSK has a 1-year low of $33.33 and a 1-year high of $43.84. The company has a market cap of $84.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.79 billion. GSK had a return on equity of 51.45% and a net margin of 16.24%. On average, equities research analysts expect that GSK will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.3564 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. GSK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.82%.

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.