Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Overweight” Rating

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $113.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $87.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $89.88 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $98.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $112.01 billion, a PE ratio of 998.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The company 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%. Gilead Sciences’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 8,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.96, for a total transaction of $781,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 132,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,173,021.08. This trade represents a 6.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,427,227.92. This trade represents a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 453,734 shares of company stock valued at $41,902,086 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 11,191 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 27,621 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,551,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 324,469 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,971,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66,317 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,126,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. 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.