Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) EVP Wettan Keeley Cain Sells 3,399 Shares of Company Stock

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) EVP Wettan Keeley Cain sold 3,399 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.11, for a total transaction of $557,809.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $879,629.60. This trade represents a 38.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD traded up $2.43 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $169.32. The stock had a trading volume of 4,470,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,777,844. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $153.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.14. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $116.88 and a fifty-two week high of $176.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -53.58 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.36. Gilead Sciences had a negative net margin of 12.47% and a negative return on equity of 1.85%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post -1.07 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 15th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently -103.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,216,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,734,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,967 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,539,111 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,468,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,976 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the second quarter worth approximately $1,316,606,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at $918,387,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $163.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Zacks Research downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.15.

Gilead Sciences Company Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious diseases. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Foster City, California, the company focuses on antiviral therapies, including treatments and preventive medicines for HIV and medicines for viral hepatitis. Its products include Biktarvy for HIV and Epclusa for hepatitis C.

Gilead also develops medicines in areas such as oncology and inflammatory diseases. Its portfolio includes Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral medicine used to treat COVID-19.