Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $113.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $87.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 26.77% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Leerink Partners raised Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Leerink Partnrs raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Maxim Group cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $89.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $111.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 990.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 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. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $91.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.06.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.96, for a total value of $781,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 132,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,173,021.08. This represents a 6.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 453,734 shares of company stock worth $41,902,086 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $193,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,793,145 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,806 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $541,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,792 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.