Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Reaches New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $81.00 to $75.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Gilead Sciences traded as low as $67.15 and last traded at $67.45, with a volume of 320010 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $67.31.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on GILD. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 83,364,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,753,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,832,824,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743,418 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,509,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,550 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 324.8% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,002,214 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,070,232,000 after buying an additional 13,764,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,196,950 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,476,358,000 after buying an additional 1,780,489 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 1.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $82.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $72.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.04). Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The business had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 68.44%.

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.