Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Given New $170.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its price target hoisted by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.17% from the company’s previous close.

GILD has been the topic of a number of other reports. Leerink Partners cut Gilead Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $146.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $165.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.07.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of GILD stock traded up $3.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $147.61. 1,434,316 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,826,267. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $144.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.51. Gilead Sciences has a 12-month low of $114.02 and a 12-month high of $157.29. The stock has a market cap of $183.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -55.39 and a beta of 0.31.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($6.75) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($7.25) by $0.50. The company had revenue of $7.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.40 billion. Gilead Sciences had a negative return on equity of 2.11% and a negative net margin of 10.64%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post -0.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew Dickinson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.29, for a total transaction of $435,870.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 164,096 shares in the company, valued at $23,841,507.84. This represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.02, for a total transaction of $725,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,459,771.32. This trade represents a 33.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 105,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,940,540 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth about $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,216,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,734,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,967 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,584,341 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,912,822,000 after purchasing an additional 444,660 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,539,111 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,468,836,000 after buying an additional 1,018,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,316,606,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc (NASDAQ: GILD) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious and life-threatening diseases. Its research and commercial activities focus primarily on virology, including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as oncology, inflammation and other areas of significant unmet medical need.

Gilead’s portfolio includes HIV treatments such as Biktarvy, Descovy, Genvoya and Sunlenca; hepatitis therapies including Epclusa, Harvoni and Vemlidy; and Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral used to treat COVID-19 in certain patients.