Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Citigroup

Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $125.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Maxim Group lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.86.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of GILD traded down $3.71 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $88.40. The stock had a trading volume of 11,352,699 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,083,877. Gilead Sciences has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $98.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.81. The company has a market cap of $110.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,007.67, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares in the company, valued at $9,113,308.50. The trade was a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the sale, the insider now owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This trade represents a 27.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,947 shares of company stock worth $4,968,674 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth approximately $25,328,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after acquiring an additional 93,068 shares during the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the third quarter worth approximately $830,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 13.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 286,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $19,630,000 after acquiring an additional 33,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 127.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 213,901 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $15,668,000 after acquiring an additional 119,909 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.