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

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $155.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price indicates a potential upside of 5.37% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $165.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. 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. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $159.26.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $147.10. 4,489,131 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,833,758. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.40 billion, a PE ratio of -55.09 and a beta of 0.31. Gilead Sciences has a 12 month low of $114.02 and a 12 month high of $157.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $144.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.62.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.90, for a total transaction of $2,218,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 566,683 shares in the company, valued at $83,812,415.70. The trade was a 2.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.22, for a total value of $432,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 116,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,828,166.48. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 105,000 shares of company stock worth $14,940,540 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 6,345 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $946,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Hamilton Capital LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 5.2% during the third quarter. Hamilton Capital LLC now owns 3,793 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 8.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 63,510 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $9,466,000 after purchasing an additional 5,032 shares during the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 0.3% in the third quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 351,309 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $52,363,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apella Capital LLC raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 19.9% in the third quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 2,889 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

More Gilead Sciences News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley assigned Gilead a Buy rating, adding to the constructive analyst sentiment surrounding the stock. The firm previously maintained an Overweight rating with a $163 price target. Morgan Stanley Gives a Buy Rating to Gilead Sciences
• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target from $150 to $158 and retained a Buy rating, while JPMorgan lifted its target from $160 to $170 and reaffirmed Overweight. Cantor Fitzgerald also reaffirmed its Overweight rating with a $155 target.
• Positive Sentiment: Gilead’s ongoing collaboration with Nurix Therapeutics was extended by two years for an oncology program. The partnership could provide Nurix with up to approximately $1.30 billion in milestone payments plus royalties, suggesting continued progress in Gilead’s protein-degradation research pipeline. Gilead-Nurix Collaboration Extension
• Neutral Sentiment: Gilead signed a five-year DevOps agreement with Cognizant to combine life-sciences expertise with technology services. The deal may improve processes and efficiency, but no material financial terms were disclosed. Gilead Signs Cognizant DevOps Agreement
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent Q2 coverage highlights Gilead’s revenue growth and better-than-expected results, but investors will continue watching whether growth can offset development costs and improve profitability. Therapeutics Stocks Q2 Highlights
• Negative Sentiment: RBC raised its price target modestly from $123 to $126 but maintained a Sector Perform rating, implying approximately 14% downside from the current trading level and tempering the broader bullish analyst outlook. RBC Raises Gilead Price Target

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.