Gilead Sciences’ (GILD) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on GILD. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Leerink Partners raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.50.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $96.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.14. Gilead Sciences has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $98.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $85.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.22 billion, a PE ratio of 1,072.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.17.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. This trade represents 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 at the SEC website. In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,398,843.87. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,437 shares of company stock valued at $5,374,825 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 1st quarter worth approximately $462,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 31.8% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 112,743 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,258,000 after buying an additional 27,211 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the first quarter valued at $573,000. AIA Group Ltd purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the first quarter worth about $1,684,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 154,992 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,353,000 after acquiring an additional 52,494 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.