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

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

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday. Barclays reduced their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. One equities research 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 company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ GILD opened at $66.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $83.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $71.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.51. Gilead Sciences has a 1-year low of $65.90 and a 1-year high of $87.86.

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

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.60%. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.44%.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 83,364,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,753,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,832,824,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743,418 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in 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 valued at $1,509,227,000 after acquiring an additional 2,350,550 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,909,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,267,207,000 after acquiring an additional 158,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at $1,301,624,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.