Brokerages Set Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) PT at $96.43

Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $97.96.

Several research firms have recently commented on GILD. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,126.44. This trade represents a 64.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 453,734 shares of company stock worth $41,902,086. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.5% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 24,920 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,710,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 356.7% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 45,501 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,123,000 after buying an additional 35,538 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 5.2% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 215,091 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,758,000 after purchasing an additional 10,703 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 74.5% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 24,049 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,650,000 after purchasing an additional 10,267 shares during the period. Finally, Garrison Point Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 4.1% in the second quarter. Garrison Point Advisors LLC now owns 3,888 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ GILD opened at $89.88 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $112.01 billion, a PE ratio of 998.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $98.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $91.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.29.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Gilead Sciences’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

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.