Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have given a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $105.12.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. DZ Bank upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $111.79 on Tuesday. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $119.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 302.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $105.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 854.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total transaction of $228,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at $11,863,898.55. This represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GILD. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 21.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,293,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,331 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,789,254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.