Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $110.55.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $116.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.09, for a total value of $260,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 169,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,597,559.49. This trade represents a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,929 shares of company stock valued at $2,644,895. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,113 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 723.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $594,370,000 after acquiring an additional 5,653,075 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $620,415,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 13,891.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,550,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $285,761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,070 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $101.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $126.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 274.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.26. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.51. Gilead Sciences has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $119.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.32) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 66.53%.

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.