Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Plans $0.79 Quarterly Dividend

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.79 per share by the biopharmaceutical company on Friday, June 27th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th.

Gilead Sciences has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.7% per year over the last three years. Gilead Sciences has a dividend payout ratio of 37.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Gilead Sciences to earn $8.11 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 39.0%.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $103.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $128.46 billion, a PE ratio of 278.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $119.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $109.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.08. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The business had revenue of $6.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.32) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 17,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.17, for a total value of $2,118,669.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 169,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,977,938.37. This trade represents a 9.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,540,875. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Gilead Sciences stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 20.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,359 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 2,450 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,326,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.