Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Strong-Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on GILD. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Truist Financial cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a buy rating to a hold rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $83.87.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $65.42 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.25. The company has a market cap of $81.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 181.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.19. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $64.63 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 23.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.71%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 855.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.18, for a total value of $146,360.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,386,496.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 83,364,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,753,350,000 after acquiring an additional 1,642,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,832,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,743,418 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,509,227,000 after acquiring an additional 2,350,550 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,909,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,267,207,000 after acquiring an additional 158,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,301,624,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently 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.