GSK share price subdued as Morgan Stanley resumes coverage

GSK’s share price (LON:GSK) has fallen marginally into the red in London in today’s session as Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of the blue-chip drugmaker with an ‘underweight’ rating. Proactive Investors quoted the broker as commenting that the company was ‘very much work in progress’.

As of 14:23 BST, GSK’s share price had given up 0.16 percent to at 1,581.80p, largely in line with losses in the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.09 percent lower at 7,338.89 points. The group’s shares have added more than one percent to their value over the past year, as compared with about a near four-percent fall in the Footsie.

Morgan Stanley ‘underweight’ on GSK

Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of GSK with an ‘underweight’ rating, with a price target of 1,520p on the shares. Proactive Investors quoted the analysts as commenting that the blue-chip pharmco is “very much a work in progress” and that they are not convinced that there is much money to be made by investing in the drugmaker right now.

The broker argues that while the striking a JV with US peer Pfizer and Morgan Stanley reckons that this integration will have to go well to paper over short-term pressures in GSK’s HIV arm, which is seeing a drop in prices and new treatment start share.

Other analysts on blue-chip drugmaker

Goldman Sachs, which is bullish on the FTSE 100 pharmco with a ‘buy’ rating, set a target on the GSK share price of 1,900p last week. According to MarketBeat, the blue-chip drugmaker currently has a consensus ‘hold’ rating and an average valuation of 1,534.57p.