Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD)

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 72,397 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 464% compared to the average daily volume of 12,832 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on GILD shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday. Leerink Partners upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.43.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.3 %

GILD stock opened at $91.86 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $89.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,026.44, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,126.44. The trade was a 64.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,398,843.87. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 447,234 shares of company stock worth $41,288,086 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GILD. Exome Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,192,000. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at $242,000. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at $221,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 22.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,241,354 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $190,611,000 after purchasing an additional 416,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tri Ri Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth about $3,380,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.