Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Receives “Hold” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. HSBC raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a reduce rating to a hold rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $83.87.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $65.42 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $64.63 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $71.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.25. The company has a market cap of $81.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 181.72, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 23.08%. The firm had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 855.56%.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,787,355 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $306,814,000 after purchasing an additional 175,925 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $74,000. Abundance Wealth Counselors acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at about $1,881,000. Finally, HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $253,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.