Gilead Sciences Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:GILD)

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 14,742 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 45% compared to the typical volume of 10,166 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $84.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Monday. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 142,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.22, for a total value of $13,822,739.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,626,253.06. This trade represents a 52.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 572,824 shares of company stock worth $53,611,715 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GILD. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 18,852 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. JFG Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $427,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 482,775 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,594,000 after purchasing an additional 65,722 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 246,038 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $22,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242 shares during the period. Finally, Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $97.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Gilead Sciences has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $99.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,088.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $92.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.14.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.