Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Maxim Group

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) was downgraded by stock analysts at Maxim Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

GILD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Leerink Partnrs raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.05.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $97.66 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $98.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.39, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $84.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 3.79%. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,437 shares of company stock worth $5,374,825. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,732,575 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,404,161,000 after buying an additional 2,910,147 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 84,497,404 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,189,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133,281 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 61,246,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,486,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589,240 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after purchasing an additional 93,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,412,413 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $714,421,000 after purchasing an additional 268,208 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.