UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Stock

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its price target increased by research analysts at UBS Group from $70.00 to $96.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 6.44% from the stock’s previous close.

GILD has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.41.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD opened at $90.19 on Thursday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.79. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $98.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,002.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.17.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,398,843.87. This trade represents a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This represents a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,947 shares of company stock valued at $4,968,674 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,044,795,000 after acquiring an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,302,119,000 after buying an additional 574,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $851,743,000 after buying an additional 93,068 shares in the last quarter. 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.