GSK (NYSE:GSK) Cut to Neutral at Guggenheim

GSK (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Guggenheim from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports.

GSK has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays upgraded shares of GSK to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group lowered shares of GSK from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Argus raised shares of GSK to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.00.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of GSK stock traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $36.74. 12,121,278 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,843,733. The company has a market cap of $76.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.08. GSK has a fifty-two week low of $33.67 and a fifty-two week high of $45.92.

GSK (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $9.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.49 billion. GSK had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 51.48%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that GSK will post 4.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Plc Gsk acquired 2,791,930 shares of GSK stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $22,335,440.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 16,775,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at $134,205,528. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 10.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its stake in GSK by 13.9% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 14,511,390 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $558,689,000 after buying an additional 1,773,020 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD lifted its stake in GSK by 37.8% in the first quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 5,510,840 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $236,250,000 after buying an additional 1,512,442 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp lifted its stake in GSK by 1.0% in the second quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,433,202 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $132,178,000 after buying an additional 34,631 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in GSK by 30.9% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,347,993 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $90,398,000 after buying an additional 554,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in GSK by 33.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,256,320 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $86,875,000 after buying an additional 569,614 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.74% 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 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.