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

Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.96.

Several research firms recently commented on GILD. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,427,227.92. This trade represents a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.96, for a total value of $781,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 132,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,173,021.08. This represents a 6.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 453,734 shares of company stock valued at $41,902,086. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 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. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 350.1% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $193,274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,793,145 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $137,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in 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. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $89.94 on Thursday. Gilead Sciences has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $98.90. The company has a market capitalization of $112.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 999.33, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.54. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 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.