Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $118.6522.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $108.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $122.81 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $85.60 and a one year high of $124.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.34. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $115.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.95 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 21.86% and a return on equity of 50.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 EPS. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.950-8.250 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.08, for a total transaction of $295,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 157,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,545,054.40. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $3,318,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 114,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,532,333.04. This represents a 19.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,500 shares of company stock worth $8,281,540 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the first quarter valued at $25,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 7,566.7% in the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 230 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2,837.5% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 235 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. 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.