Gilead Sciences Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:GILD)

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 16,698 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 38% compared to the average volume of 12,087 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on GILD. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Maxim Group cut Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Eleven equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total value of $23,064,310.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 138,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,126.44. This trade represents a 64.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 713,000 shares of company stock worth $67,945,181 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during 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 during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,724,306,000 after buying an additional 7,157,113 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,293,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,331 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth $1,789,254,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD traded up $1.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $109.27. 2,181,588 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,211,244. The company’s fifty day moving average is $94.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.50. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $109.38. The stock has a market cap of $136.18 billion, a PE 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 7.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

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

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.