Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Stock

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its price target hoisted by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $81.00 to $84.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 4.27% from the stock’s previous close.

GILD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Leerink Partners raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Maxim Group downgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven equities 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.00.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $87.75 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $109.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 975.00, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,947 shares of company stock valued at $4,968,674. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.6% in the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 9,626 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.6% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 57,509 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,822,000 after purchasing an additional 5,497 shares during the period. TT International Asset Management LTD purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at $1,257,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 9.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,882 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 2,043 shares during the period. Finally, Gould Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 22.2% in the third quarter. Gould Capital LLC now owns 16,128 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,927 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.