GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Short Interest Up 6.0% in August

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,260,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the July 31st total of 4,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,210,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on GSK shares. StockNews.com cut shares of GSK from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a report on Friday, July 14th. They set a “reduce” rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,527.50.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GSK opened at $35.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.32. GSK has a fifty-two week low of $28.47 and a fifty-two week high of $39.74.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.12. GSK had a return on equity of 55.93% and a net margin of 50.26%. The firm had revenue of $8.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.49 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that GSK will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

GSK Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 18th will be paid a $0.3613 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $1.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. GSK’s payout ratio is presently 16.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in GSK by 74.6% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,044,350 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $493,518,000 after purchasing an additional 5,998,831 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of GSK by 255.5% in the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,690,026 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $274,071,000 after acquiring an additional 5,526,736 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its position in GSK by 7.4% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 69,707,068 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,480,177,000 after acquiring an additional 4,774,116 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in GSK by 48.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,113,039 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $309,844,000 after purchasing an additional 2,316,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in GSK in the 4th quarter valued at $73,232,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.53% of the company’s stock.

GSK Company Profile

GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development and manufacture of vaccines and specialty medicines to prevent and treat disease in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare.