Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Short Interest Down 8.9% in January

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,930,000 shares, a decline of 8.9% from the January 15th total of 25,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GILD. Maxim Group cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 710,500 shares of company stock valued at $67,684,956 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 723.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $594,370,000 after buying an additional 5,653,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,377,707,000 after buying an additional 2,458,954 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock traded up $1.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $105.25. 9,432,878 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,405,141. Gilead Sciences has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $106.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $94.14 and a 200-day moving average of $87.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,169.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.79 dividend. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3,422.22%.

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.