Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) PT Lowered to $78.00

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its target price dropped by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 18.88% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on GILD. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.87.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ GILD traded up $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $65.61. 7,562,287 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,415,929. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market cap of $81.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.19. Gilead Sciences has a 1-year low of $64.63 and a 1-year high of $87.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $71.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.32.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,301,624,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 78.8% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,632,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $618,268,000 after purchasing an additional 3,362,505 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 179.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $340,526,000 after acquiring an additional 2,915,141 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,509,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 89.0% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,764,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $304,930,000 after buying an additional 1,772,887 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.