Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Truist Financial cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $85.36.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $73.25 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $74.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market cap of $91.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $71.37 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.67 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 68.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.18, for a total value of $146,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,386,496.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.18, for a total transaction of $146,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,386,496.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 8,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.23, for a total transaction of $702,465.66. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,050,992.67. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,242 shares of company stock valued at $1,277,726. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Norges Bank bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,301,624,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 324.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,002,214 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,070,232,000 after acquiring an additional 13,764,169 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 96,759.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,111,194 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $868,046,000 after acquiring an additional 10,100,755 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 70.6% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 15,492,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $921,006,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 78.8% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,632,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $618,268,000 after purchasing an additional 3,362,505 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.