Investors Buy High Volume of Gilead Sciences Call Options (NASDAQ:GILD)

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 16,698 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 38% compared to the typical volume of 12,087 call options.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ GILD traded up $1.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $109.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,181,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,211,244. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $88.23. Gilead Sciences has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $109.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 295.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. Research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 7.94 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 832.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.09, for a total transaction of $260,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 169,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,597,559.49. This represents a 1.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 713,000 shares of company stock valued at $67,945,181 in the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,044,795,000 after purchasing an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after buying an additional 7,157,113 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,293,822,000 after buying an additional 1,058,331 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,608,337,000 after acquiring an additional 749,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,789,254,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GILD. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Maxim Group downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.08.

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.