GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Raises Dividend to $0.39 Per Share

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of 0.3932 per share by the pharmaceutical company on Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

GSK has decreased its dividend by an average of 17.2% per year over the last three years. GSK has a dividend payout ratio of 34.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect GSK to earn $4.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.3%.

GSK Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE GSK opened at $36.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $34.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.60. GSK has a one year low of $31.72 and a one year high of $45.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.15. GSK had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 50.62%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that GSK will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GSK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com lowered GSK from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut GSK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $39.50 in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, GSK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.25.

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.