Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Given New $126.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $116.00 to $126.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. DZ Bank raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Daiwa America raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.24.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 1.2 %

GILD stock opened at $117.41 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $99.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.39. Gilead Sciences has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $118.42. The company has a market cap of $146.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 317.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. Sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 854.05%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total value of $228,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,863,898.55. This represents a 1.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 293,356 shares of company stock valued at $29,166,240. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,044,795,000 after purchasing an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after purchasing an additional 7,157,113 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,293,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,331 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,608,337,000 after purchasing an additional 749,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $1,789,254,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.