Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Short Interest Down 11.1% in September

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) was the target of a large decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 17,740,000 shares, a decline of 11.1% from the September 15th total of 19,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:GILD traded up $0.93 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $86.75. The stock had a trading volume of 3,130,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,107,857. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $80.56 and a 200 day moving average of $72.61. The company has a market capitalization of $108.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 240.97, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 3.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.64 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 855.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,398,843.87. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,847 shares of company stock worth $3,033,340 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,732,575 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,404,161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,147 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the first quarter worth about $134,489,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.7% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 61,246,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,486,296,000 after buying an additional 1,589,240 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $541,310,000 after buying an additional 1,564,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,298,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GILD shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.83.

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.