Daiwa America Upgrades Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) to “Hold”

Daiwa America upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on GILD. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Maxim Group downgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.41.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of GILD opened at $89.84 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 998.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.17. Gilead Sciences has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $98.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.61.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (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 29.00%. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 4.38 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total value of $2,341,485.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 99,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. This trade represents a 20.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,947 shares of company stock worth $4,968,674 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,044,795,000 after acquiring an additional 841,776 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after acquiring an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,302,119,000 after acquiring an additional 574,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after acquiring an additional 93,068 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.