Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Short Interest Update

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,930,000 shares, a decrease of 8.9% from the January 15th total of 25,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,150,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GILD. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.08.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of GILD opened at $105.25 on Wednesday. Gilead Sciences has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $106.69. The company has a market capitalization of $131.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,169.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.89.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 80,801 shares in the company, valued at $7,427,227.92. The trade was a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 710,500 shares of company stock worth $67,684,956 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 723.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $594,370,000 after purchasing an additional 5,653,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,377,707,000 after buying an additional 2,458,954 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.