Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Upgraded by Leerink Partners to Outperform

Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $96.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $74.00.

GILD has been the topic of several other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Monday, September 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.85.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $88.78 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.17. The company has a market cap of $110.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 246.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $89.21.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $6.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.64 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 3.79%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 855.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 5,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.98, for a total value of $406,150.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 114,979 shares in the company, valued at $8,506,146.42. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 5,490 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.98, for a total value of $406,150.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 114,979 shares in the company, valued at $8,506,146.42. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,847 shares of company stock worth $3,033,340. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 17,925 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,503,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the third quarter valued at approximately $311,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 23.3% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 439,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $36,807,000 after buying an additional 83,063 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 26.8% in the third quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 10,237 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $858,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163 shares during the period. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 32,086 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,690,000 after acquiring an additional 2,252 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.