Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Stock Has Average Price Target of $158.78 According to Analysts

Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $158.78.

GILD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $157.00 to $156.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Leerink Partners downgraded Gilead Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $146.00 to $127.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 1.5%

GILD stock opened at $149.05 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $108.46 and a twelve month high of $157.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The company has a market capitalization of $184.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -55.82 and a beta of 0.33. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.47.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($6.75) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($7.25) by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $7.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.40 billion. Gilead Sciences had a negative net margin of 10.64% and a negative return on equity of 2.11%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently -122.85%.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.02, for a total transaction of $725,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,066 shares in the company, valued at $1,459,771.32. The trade was a 33.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.64, for a total transaction of $2,229,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 577,133 shares in the company, valued at $85,785,049.12. This trade represents a 2.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 90,000 shares of company stock valued at $12,722,040 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,216,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,734,099,000 after buying an additional 1,357,967 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth $2,617,152,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,584,341 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,912,822,000 after buying an additional 444,660 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 10.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,539,111 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,468,836,000 after buying an additional 1,018,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc (NASDAQ: GILD) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious and life-threatening diseases. Its research and commercial activities focus primarily on virology, including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as oncology, inflammation and other areas of significant unmet medical need.

Gilead’s portfolio includes HIV treatments such as Biktarvy, Descovy, Genvoya and Sunlenca; hepatitis therapies including Epclusa, Harvoni and Vemlidy; and Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral used to treat COVID-19 in certain patients.