Gilead Sciences' (GILD) "Hold" Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their hold rating on shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and set a $109.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $101.33.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:GILD traded down $1.88 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $104.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,399,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,866,207. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $93.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $106.69. The stock has a market cap of $129.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,156.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18.

Remove Ads

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

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences's payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related 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 transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,427,227.92. The trade was a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total value of $23,064,310.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,126.44. The trade was a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 710,500 shares of company stock valued at $67,684,956. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 723.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $594,370,000 after purchasing an additional 5,653,075 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,377,707,000 after acquiring an additional 2,458,954 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.