Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Lifted 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 issued on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a buy rating to a hold rating and cut their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, April 19th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target 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. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $83.60.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $65.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $81.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 181.11, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Gilead Sciences has a 12 month low of $64.63 and a 12 month high of $87.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.08.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 1.76%. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.72%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 855.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Tompkins Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 223.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 349 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.