StockNews.com Downgrades Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lowered Gilead Sciences from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their target price for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $66.95 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $65.90 and a twelve month high of $87.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The company’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.44%.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth $1,301,624,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 78.8% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,632,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $618,268,000 after acquiring an additional 3,362,505 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 179.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $340,526,000 after acquiring an additional 2,915,141 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,509,227,000 after acquiring an additional 2,350,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 89.0% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,764,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $304,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772,887 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.