Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Price Target Raised to $84.00

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $81.00 to $84.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Maxim Group cut Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.00.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $88.63 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $110.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 984.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $87.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.52. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total value of $167,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,947 shares of company stock valued at $4,968,674 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 198.3% in the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 358 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 101.9% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 51.6% during the second quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. 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.