Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Upgraded to “Buy” at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $120.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $80.00.

GILD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.08.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

GILD stock opened at $105.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $131.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,169.44, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.89. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $106.69.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 137,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.22, for a total value of $14,073,240.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 171,223 shares in the company, valued at $17,502,415.06. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 710,500 shares of company stock valued at $67,684,956. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,044,795,000 after acquiring an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,724,306,000 after buying an additional 7,157,113 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,293,822,000 after buying an additional 1,058,331 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,608,337,000 after purchasing an additional 749,047 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth about $1,789,254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.