Gilead Sciences’ (GILD) “Sector Perform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $84.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

GILD has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.43.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $91.86 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.26. 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 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $98.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,026.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total value of $23,064,310.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,126.44. This represents a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,427,227.92. This trade represents a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 447,234 shares of company stock valued at $41,288,086 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in 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 lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $193,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,793,145 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,708,000 after buying an additional 1,622,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 24.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $541,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564,792 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.