Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Price Target Raised to $105.00 at Piper Sandler

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price indicates a potential upside of 7.58% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GILD. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Gilead Sciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $78.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.35.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $97.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $121.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Gilead Sciences has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $98.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $84.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.67.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 3.79%. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 5,490 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.98, for a total value of $406,150.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 114,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,506,146.42. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 5,490 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.98, for a total transaction of $406,150.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 114,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,506,146.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,847 shares of company stock valued at $3,033,340 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,328,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 93,068 shares during the period. IRON Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $830,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at about $462,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 13.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 286,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,630,000 after purchasing an additional 33,162 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.