Gilead Sciences Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:GILD)

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 28,056 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 104% compared to the average volume of 13,758 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $4,832,824,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743,418 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,509,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,550 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,909,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,267,207,000 after buying an additional 158,794 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at $1,301,624,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GILD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Gilead Sciences from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $83.60.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:GILD traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $65.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,838,371 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,481,456. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $82.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 183.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.19. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $64.63 and a one year high of $87.86. The business's 50-day moving average is $71.16 and its 200-day moving average is $76.17.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 1.76%. The company had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Gilead Sciences's dividend payout ratio is currently 855.56%.

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.