Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $110.55.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $116.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.09, for a total value of $260,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 169,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,597,559.49. This trade represents a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,929 shares of company stock valued at $2,644,895. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,113 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 723.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $594,370,000 after acquiring an additional 5,653,075 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $620,415,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 13,891.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,550,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $285,761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,070 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $101.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $126.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 274.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.26. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.51. Gilead Sciences has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $119.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.32) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Gilead Sciences's payout ratio is 66.53%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.