Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Stock Price

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $120.00 to $140.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on GILD. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.24.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.6 %

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $115.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $143.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 312.00, a P/E/G 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 has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $117.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $98.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.91.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. As a group, analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 854.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 132,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,173,021.08. This represents a 6.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 293,356 shares of company stock valued at $29,166,240. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,044,795,000 after acquiring an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,724,306,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,113 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,293,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,331 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,608,337,000 after acquiring an additional 749,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $1,789,254,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.