Maxim Group Cuts Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Price Target to $85.00

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) had its price target decreased by Maxim Group from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. Maxim Group currently has a buy rating on the biopharmaceutical company's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on GILD. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Saturday. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $83.69.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GILD traded up $0.31 on Wednesday, hitting $65.51. The stock had a trading volume of 7,231,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,477,920. Gilead Sciences has a 52-week low of $64.63 and a 52-week high of $87.86. The stock has a market cap of $81.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 181.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $70.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.01.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Gilead Sciences's payout ratio is 855.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GILD. Capital World Investors increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 83,364,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $6,753,350,000 after acquiring an additional 1,642,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $4,832,824,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743,418 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,509,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,550 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,909,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,267,207,000 after purchasing an additional 158,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $1,301,624,000. Institutional investors 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.