Insider Selling: Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) CEO Sells 15,000 Shares of Stock

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) CEO Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.90, for a total transaction of $2,218,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 566,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,812,415.70. The trade was a 2.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Daniel Patrick O’day also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 1st, Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.64, for a total transaction of $2,229,600.00.
• On Monday, August 3rd, Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.31, for a total transaction of $1,954,650.00.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 1.9%

NASDAQ GILD traded down $2.76 on Friday, reaching $144.74. 4,786,425 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,873,920. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $109.66 and a 12 month high of $157.29. The company has a market cap of $179.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.21 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $143.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($6.75) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($7.25) by $0.50. Gilead Sciences had a negative net margin of 10.64% and a negative return on equity of 2.11%. The firm had revenue of $7.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post -0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently -122.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,216,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,734,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,967 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,584,341 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,912,822,000 after purchasing an additional 444,660 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,539,111 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,468,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,976 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth about $1,316,606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $166.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.78.

Gilead Sciences Company Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc (NASDAQ: GILD) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious and life-threatening diseases. Its research and commercial activities focus primarily on virology, including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as oncology, inflammation and other areas of significant unmet medical need.

Gilead’s portfolio includes HIV treatments such as Biktarvy, Descovy, Genvoya and Sunlenca; hepatitis therapies including Epclusa, Harvoni and Vemlidy; and Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral used to treat COVID-19 in certain patients.