Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD)

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 42,588 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 240% compared to the typical daily volume of 12,513 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on GILD. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on 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. HSBC upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.57.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 223.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 349 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

GILD stock opened at $65.27 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Gilead Sciences has a 12-month low of $65.09 and a 12-month high of $87.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.27 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The firm had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.72%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 68.44%.

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.