GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.38

GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.3762 per share by the pharmaceutical company on Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from GSK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36.

GSK has decreased its dividend by an average of 18.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. GSK has a payout ratio of 36.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect GSK to earn $4.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 36.6%.

GSK Price Performance

NYSE:GSK traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $43.35. The company had a trading volume of 5,943,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,497,645. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.06. GSK has a one year low of $33.33 and a one year high of $43.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.84 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

GSK (NYSE:GSK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The pharmaceutical company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.04). GSK had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 51.45%. The firm had revenue of $10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.79 billion. Analysts forecast that GSK will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on GSK. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on GSK in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised GSK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Guggenheim raised GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised GSK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GSK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.