Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Given Buy Rating at Bank of America

Bank of America reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $109.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.43.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $92.34 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $98.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.08 billion, a PE ratio of 1,026.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.18. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.89.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,126.44. This represents a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 476,591 shares of company stock worth $43,747,615 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after acquiring an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $193,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,793,145 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 24.7% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $541,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,792 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.