Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Upgraded at Daiwa America

Daiwa America upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) to a hold rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.00.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $88.63 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $87.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.52. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.46 billion, a PE ratio of 984.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,398,843.87. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the sale, the insider now owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,947 shares of company stock valued at $4,968,674 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 24.5% in the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,312,000 after buying an additional 3,521 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,410,443 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $103,315,000 after buying an additional 80,666 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 18.7% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 887,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,044,000 after acquiring an additional 139,907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 969,733 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $71,032,000 after acquiring an additional 24,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.