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

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 165,669 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,115% compared to the average volume of 13,634 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $140.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.13.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ GILD opened at $120.40 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $88.57 and a twelve month high of $128.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $149.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.71.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.31. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 27.88% and a return on equity of 51.86%. The firm had revenue of $7.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.050-8.250 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 48.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, CEO Daniel Patrick O’day sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.39, for a total transaction of $1,193,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 581,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,389,826.17. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.86, for a total value of $3,524,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,491,310.98. This trade represents a 20.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 135,757 shares of company stock worth $16,616,127 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,150,268,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 314.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,703,103 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,647,484,000 after buying an additional 11,156,382 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 397.6% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,748,403 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $748,147,000 after buying an additional 5,392,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 33.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,521,228 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,499,098,000 after buying an additional 3,394,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 164.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,489,062 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $387,286,000 after buying an additional 2,169,266 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.