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

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 21,180,000 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the March 31st total of 22,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GILD. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. HSBC upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Maxim Group decreased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GILD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,301,624,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 78.8% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,632,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $618,268,000 after buying an additional 3,362,505 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 179.0% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $340,526,000 after buying an additional 2,915,141 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,509,227,000 after buying an additional 2,350,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 89.0% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,764,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $304,930,000 after buying an additional 1,772,887 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $65.51 on Thursday. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $64.63 and a one year high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 181.97, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.70%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 855.56%.

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.