Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Short Interest Down 8.9% in January

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) saw a significant decrease in short interest in 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. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 7,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Maxim Group downgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.08.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 137,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.22, for a total transaction of $14,073,240.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 171,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,502,415.06. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 710,500 shares of company stock valued at $67,684,956 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 841,776 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,113 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.1% in the 4th 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 Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,608,337,000 after acquiring an additional 749,047 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at $1,789,254,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

GILD traded up $1.17 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $105.25. 9,432,878 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,405,141. Gilead Sciences has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $106.69. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $131.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,169.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.89.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

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.