Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Short Interest Up 7.6% in October

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,740,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 16,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GILD. Barclays boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Eleven equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This trade represents a 27.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares in the company, valued at $9,113,308.50. This trade represents a 20.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,947 shares of company stock valued at $4,968,674 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GILD. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 198.3% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 358 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 101.9% during the 3rd 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 stake in Gilead Sciences by 51.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $88.46. The company had a trading volume of 9,099,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,110,947. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $98.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $86.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.27. The firm has a market cap of $110.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 982.89, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.17.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

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.