Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on GSK (NYSE:GSK)

Key Points

• GSK experienced a significant surge in put option trading, with 18,546 options bought, marking a 157% increase compared to typical volumes.
• Several institutional investors, including Dodge & Cox and Fisher Asset Management, have increased their stakes in GSK, indicating strong confidence in the stock.
• Following recent performance, GSK's stock price declined by 5.2% on trading day, reaching $43.19, while the company reported quarterly earnings that exceeded expectations.

GSK PLC Sponsored ADR (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 18,546 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 157% compared to the typical volume of 7,203 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GSK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dodge & Cox raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 10,210,921 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in GSK by 4.4% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 31,338,405 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,203,395,000 after buying an additional 1,306,590 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of GSK by 1.8% during the first quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 25,708,020 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $995,929,000 after purchasing an additional 446,360 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of GSK by 2.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,722,314 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $299,163,000 after acquiring an additional 155,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in GSK by 5.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,581,079 shares of the pharmaceutical company's stock worth $293,692,000 after purchasing an additional 411,869 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 15.74% of the company's stock.

GSK Trading Down 5.2%

GSK stock traded down $2.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.19. 4,328,671 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,095,749. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. GSK has a 52-week low of $31.72 and a 52-week high of $46.87. The company has a market cap of $87.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.53. The stock's fifty day moving average is $41.44 and its 200-day moving average is $39.24.

GSK (NYSE:GSK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The pharmaceutical company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $10.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.92 billion. GSK had a net margin of 10.81% and a return on equity of 49.22%. The firm's revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. GSK has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.590-4.590 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that GSK will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current year.

GSK Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.4206 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. GSK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded GSK from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of GSK in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $37.38.

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.

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