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

GSK (NYSE:GSK) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on GSK. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of GSK in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating for the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on GSK in a report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $35.25 price objective for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.58.

GSK Price Performance

GSK stock opened at $35.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.14. GSK has a 52-week low of $31.72 and a 52-week high of $45.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a return on equity of 48.59% and a net margin of 8.13%. Equities research analysts expect that GSK will post 4.14 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of GSK

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. NBT Bank N A NY raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 22.4% during the first quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 14,313 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,624 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its stake in GSK by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 156,309 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,055,000 after buying an additional 16,434 shares during the period. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in GSK by 18.4% during the first quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 257,201 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,964,000 after purchasing an additional 40,001 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GSK in the first quarter valued at $210,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in GSK by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 305,395 shares of the pharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,831,000 after acquiring an additional 13,239 shares during the last quarter. 15.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.