Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Upgraded at Truist Financial

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Truist Financial currently has $127.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $108.00.

GILD has been the topic of several other research reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $133.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.82.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $119.41 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.64. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $72.43 and a twelve month high of $121.38. The stock has a market cap of $148.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.05. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 50.99% and a net margin of 21.86%. The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, CEO Daniel Patrick O’day sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.45, for a total value of $1,104,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 615,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,006,826.25. This trade represents a 1.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.74, for a total value of $548,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $978,880.80. This trade represents a 35.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,984,175 in the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,470,825 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,162,606,000 after buying an additional 1,942,433 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,207,662 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,231,548,000 after buying an additional 727,515 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,377,707,000 after buying an additional 2,458,954 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 314.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,703,103 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,647,484,000 after buying an additional 11,156,382 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 13,755,481 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,541,302,000 after buying an additional 1,520,809 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.