Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $96.43.

Several analysts recently weighed in on GILD shares. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,113,308.50. This represents a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 453,734 shares of company stock valued at $41,902,086. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. FMR LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $193,274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,793,145 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $137,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $541,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,792 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $89.14 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.02. The company has a market cap of $111.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 990.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,422.22%.

Gilead Sciences Company Profile

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.