Gilead Sciences Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:GILD)

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 72,397 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 464% compared to the average daily volume of 12,832 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GILD. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Daiwa America upgraded Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,398,843.87. This trade represents a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 447,234 shares of company stock worth $41,288,086 over the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. State Street Corp raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,044,795,000 after purchasing an additional 841,776 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after acquiring an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,302,119,000 after acquiring an additional 574,421 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after acquiring an additional 93,068 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ GILD opened at $92.38 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,026.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,422.22%.

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines in the areas of unmet medical need in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides Biktarvy, Genvoya, Descovy, Odefsey, Truvada, Complera/ Eviplera, Stribild, Sunlencs, and Atripla products for the treatment of HIV/AIDS; Veklury, an injection for intravenous use, for the treatment of COVID-19; and Epclusa, Harvoni, Vemlidy, and Viread for the treatment of viral hepatitis.