Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Earns Overweight Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $155.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target points to a potential upside of 6.57% from the stock’s previous close.

GILD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research cut Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Leerink Partners cut Gilead Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $146.00 to $127.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $159.26.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:GILD traded down $1.40 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $145.45. The company had a trading volume of 892,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,814,224. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $144.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.55. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $114.02 and a one year high of $157.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.35 billion, a PE ratio of -54.34 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Gilead Sciences had a negative return on equity of 2.11% and a negative net margin of 10.64%.The firm had revenue of $7.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, CEO Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.64, for a total value of $2,229,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 577,133 shares in the company, valued at $85,785,049.12. This trade represents a 2.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Anthony Welters sold 18,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director owned 12,894 shares in the company, valued at $1,916,306.28. This represents a 58.26% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 105,000 shares of company stock worth $14,940,540. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,216,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,734,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,967 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,584,341 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,912,822,000 after acquiring an additional 444,660 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 10.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,539,111 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,468,836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the second quarter worth about $1,316,606,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Gilead Sciences this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains strong. JPMorgan raised its target from $160 to $170 and maintained an “overweight” rating. Truist also increased its target from $150 to $158 and kept a “buy” rating. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed its “overweight” rating with a $155 target, while Morgan Stanley maintained “overweight” despite trimming its target from $165 to $163. The concentration of bullish ratings is likely supporting investor confidence in GILD.
• Positive Sentiment: Five-year Cognizant partnership could improve operations. Gilead signed a long-term DevOps agreement with Cognizant, combining life-sciences expertise with technology services to support the company’s processes. While financial details were not disclosed, the agreement may help Gilead improve efficiency and technology infrastructure. Gilead Sciences signs five-year DevOps agreement with Cognizant
• Positive Sentiment: Gilead’s collaboration with Nurix was extended. The two-year extension of research into E3 ligase-based protein degradation therapies suggests continued progress in an oncology program. The partnership could ultimately generate milestone payments and royalties, although the program remains subject to development and commercial risks. Extending the Gilead E3 Ligase Collaboration

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.