Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Raised to Hold at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from a reduce rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $69.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a buy rating to a hold rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note 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 note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $83.87.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.2 %

GILD stock opened at $65.42 on Wednesday. Gilead Sciences has a 12 month low of $64.63 and a 12 month high of $87.86. The firm has a market cap of $81.45 billion, a PE ratio of 181.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.19. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 855.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $210,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,787,355 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $306,814,000 after acquiring an additional 175,925 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $74,000. Abundance Wealth Counselors bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,881,000. Finally, HTLF Bank bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $253,000. 83.67% of the stock is 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.