GSK (NYSE:GSK) Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• GSK has been upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating, indicating a more favorable outlook from analysts.
• Despite the upgrade, the consensus rating for GSK remains at "Hold," with a price target of $37.38 and various other ratings issued by different research firms.
• In the last earnings report, GSK exceeded expectations with $1.23 earnings per share and $10.64 billion in revenue for the quarter, showing a positive trend compared to the previous year.

GSK (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on GSK. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of GSK to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of GSK in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $35.25 price objective on the stock. Finally, Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of GSK in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.38.

GSK Stock Performance

NYSE:GSK traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $37.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,286,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,353,975. GSK has a fifty-two week low of $31.72 and a fifty-two week high of $44.67. The firm's 50 day moving average is $38.96 and its 200-day moving average is $37.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $76.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.51.

GSK (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.11. GSK had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 49.22%. The company had revenue of $10.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. GSK's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that GSK will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GSK. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of GSK by 82.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 52,823,032 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,786,475,000 after buying an additional 23,814,104 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in GSK by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 78,651,833 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $3,046,972,000 after purchasing an additional 10,210,921 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in GSK by 201.9% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,982,324 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $154,244,000 after purchasing an additional 2,663,270 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in GSK by 1,360.4% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 2,165,043 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $73,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,016,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in GSK in the 1st quarter valued at $67,267,000. Hedge funds and other 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.