Morgan Stanley Cuts Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Price Target to $163.00

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its price target dropped by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $163.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 10.48% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on GILD. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $146.00 to $127.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $155.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.70.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Gilead Sciences stock traded up $3.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $147.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 794,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,822,083. Gilead Sciences has a 12-month low of $114.02 and a 12-month high of $157.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $144.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $182.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -55.32 and a beta of 0.31.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($6.75) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($7.25) by $0.50. Gilead Sciences had a negative return on equity of 2.11% and a negative net margin of 10.64%.The firm had revenue of $7.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post -0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Anthony Welters sold 18,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.62, for a total value of $2,675,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,916,306.28. The trade was a 58.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 3,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.29, for a total transaction of $435,870.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 164,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,841,507.84. The trade was a 1.80% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 105,000 shares of company stock worth $14,940,540. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,216,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,734,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,967 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,584,341 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,912,822,000 after purchasing an additional 444,660 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 10.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,539,111 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,468,836,000 after buying an additional 1,018,976 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth approximately $1,316,606,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Company Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc (NASDAQ: GILD) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious and life-threatening diseases. Its research and commercial activities focus primarily on virology, including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as oncology, inflammation and other areas of significant unmet medical need.

Gilead’s portfolio includes HIV treatments such as Biktarvy, Descovy, Genvoya and Sunlenca; hepatitis therapies including Epclusa, Harvoni and Vemlidy; and Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral used to treat COVID-19 in certain patients.