Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Cut to Hold at Maxim Group

Maxim Group lowered shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on GILD. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Leerink Partners raised Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $96.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $120.23 billion, a PE ratio of 1,073.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $85.30 and a 200-day moving average of $75.15. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $98.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,398,843.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,437 shares of company stock worth $5,374,825 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 198.3% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 358 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 101.9% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 51.6% in the second quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.