Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Leerink Partnrs

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) was upgraded by investment analysts at Leerink Partnrs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GILD. Raymond James raised Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.85.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 2.2 %

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $88.16 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $81.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $109.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 244.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $88.36.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 3.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.64 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total value of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. 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 worth $3,033,340 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the second quarter worth about $25,328,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in 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 worth $851,743,000 after acquiring an additional 93,068 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the first quarter worth about $462,000. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 751.1% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 127,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,322,000 after acquiring an additional 112,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 13.1% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 286,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $19,630,000 after acquiring an additional 33,162 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.