Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of GSK Call Options (NYSE:GSK)

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 26,518 call options on the company. This is an increase of 326% compared to the typical volume of 6,227 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at GSK

In other news, major shareholder Plc Gsk bought 2,791,930 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.00 per share, for a total transaction of $22,335,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,775,691 shares in the company, valued at $134,205,528. The trade was a 19.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of GSK

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in GSK in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 711 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners raised its holdings in shares of GSK by 231.8% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 783 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of GSK during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in GSK in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. 15.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GSK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim downgraded shares of GSK from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of GSK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays raised shares of GSK to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of GSK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Argus raised shares of GSK to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.25.

GSK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GSK traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.46. 8,988,100 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,130,436. GSK has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $45.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $69.35 billion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.54.

GSK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.3928 per share. This represents a $1.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.70%. This is a boost from GSK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. GSK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.35%.

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.