Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms Buy Rating for GSK (LON:GSK)

Key Points

• Jefferies reaffirmed a Buy rating on GSK with a price target of GBX 2,500, implying about a 14.63% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst coverage is mixed — three Buys, three Holds and one Sell — giving a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of GBX 2,023.57.
• Shares traded at GBX 2,181 on heavy volume (55.8M vs. average 10.1M); GSK has a market cap of £87.17 billion and a PE ratio of 15.71.

GSK (LON:GSK - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued on Tuesday,London Stock Exchange reports. They currently have a GBX 2,500 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.63% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on GSK. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a GBX 1,940 price objective on shares of GSK in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Berenberg Bank reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a GBX 2,000 price objective on shares of GSK in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on GSK from GBX 1,600 to GBX 1,675 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on GSK from GBX 1,900 to GBX 2,250 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an "underweight" rating on shares of GSK in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of GBX 2,023.57.

GSK Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of LON:GSK traded up GBX 11 on Tuesday, hitting GBX 2,181. 55,846,230 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,100,059. GSK has a 52 week low of GBX 1,263.50 and a 52 week high of GBX 2,282. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 108.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 2,105.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 1,885.52. The company has a market cap of £87.17 billion, a PE ratio of 15.71, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.35.

GSK (LON:GSK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported GBX 172 earnings per share for the quarter. GSK had a return on equity of 37.19% and a net margin of 17.50%. As a group, research analysts expect that GSK will post 175.980975 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at GSK

In other news, insider Anne Beal purchased 196 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 5,179 per share, for a total transaction of £10,150.84. Also, insider Wendy Becker purchased 411 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 1,963 per share, with a total value of £8,067.93. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 11,447 shares of company stock valued at $24,273,097. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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. The company offers shingles, meningitis, respiratory syncytial virus, flu, polio, influenza, and pandemic vaccines. It also provides medicines for HIV, oncology, respiratory/immunology, and other specialty medicine products, as well as inhaled medicines for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and antibiotics for infections.

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