GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.39

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors 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 yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

GSK has decreased its dividend by an average of 17.2% annually over the last three years. GSK has a payout ratio of 34.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

Shares of GSK stock traded down $1.33 on Thursday, reaching $36.38. 7,166,526 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,646,120. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.17 and a 200 day moving average of $37.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53. GSK has a 52 week low of $31.72 and a 52 week high of $45.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.