Truist Financial Issues Positive Forecast for Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Stock Price

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $150.00 to $158.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.17% from the company’s previous close.

GILD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. HSBC boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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 note on Wednesday. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $159.15.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 2.2%

NASDAQ:GILD traded up $3.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $147.43. 1,507,064 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,826,759. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $114.02 and a twelve month high of $157.29. The stock has a market cap of $182.81 billion, a PE ratio of -55.27 and a beta of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $144.11 and a 200 day moving average of $136.51.

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

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, Director Anthony Welters sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.62, for a total value of $2,675,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,894 shares in the company, valued at $1,916,306.28. The trade was a 58.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.90, for a total value of $2,218,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 566,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,812,415.70. This represents a 2.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 105,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,940,540. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the second quarter worth about $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,216,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,734,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,967 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 10,539,111 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,468,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the second quarter worth approximately $1,316,606,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Company Profile

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.