Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Citigroup

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

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on GILD. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.86.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of GILD opened at $88.40 on Thursday. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90. The company’s fifty day moving average is $86.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.04. The firm has a market cap of $110.17 billion, a PE ratio of 982.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. This represents a 20.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,545,480.06. This represents a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,947 shares of company stock worth $4,968,674. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at about $217,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 12,613 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 1,746 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at $15,827,000. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter worth $7,082,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.