Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $113.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $87.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $89.88 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $91.94 and its 200-day moving average is $83.39. The company has a market cap of $112.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 998.67, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. Gilead Sciences has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,422.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,126.44. The trade was a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 453,734 shares of company stock valued at $41,902,086 in the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 101.9% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 51.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Gilead Sciences

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.