Wall Street Zen Upgrades Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) to Buy

by · The Cerbat Gem

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD – Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

GILD has been the subject of several other research reports. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.78.

Read Our Latest Analysis on GILD

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

GILD opened at $150.11 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a 52 week low of $108.46 and a 52 week high of $157.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.22. The firm has a market cap of $186.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -56.22 and a beta of 0.33.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($6.75) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($7.25) by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $7.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.40 billion. Gilead Sciences had a negative return on equity of 2.11% and a negative net margin of 10.64%.Gilead Sciences’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.64, for a total value of $2,229,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 577,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $85,785,049.12. This trade represents a 2.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.64, for a total transaction of $3,853,920.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 118,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,273,727.76. This trade represents a 19.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 105,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,616,390 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Aviva PLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 1,156,738 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $141,978,000 after acquiring an additional 59,782 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,418,000. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth approximately $100,056,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $55,754,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 106,526 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,075,000 after purchasing an additional 13,385 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Gilead Sciences

(Get Free Report)

Gilead Sciences, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious and life-threatening diseases. The company’s research focuses primarily on virology, oncology, inflammation and related areas, with products serving patients in the United States and international markets.

Gilead is best known for its HIV treatments, including Biktarvy, Genvoya, Descovy and other antiretroviral therapies. Its portfolio also includes medicines for viral hepatitis, such as Epclusa and Vemlidy, and Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral treatment for COVID-19.

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